Harry Potter and the Problem with Life Debts
by proton104
Summary: Harry Potter A/U. What if Harry was raised by Bellatrix Black? What if, while attending the Quidditch World Cup, Harry saved a young woman from a fate worse than death, incurring a life debt? M Rating for blood, guts, gore, profanity, and adult themes/situations (a.k.a. lemons) Full Summary inside.
1. Prologue

**A/N: So, here we go with my first ever Harry Potter fanfic. I have been reading a lot of Harry Potter fics and have enjoyed most of them. This fanfiction is based on a story by Thor's Shadow titled "Champions" and is a Harry and Fleur story. I liked the ideas that were brought forward in that story and another titled "The Forgotten Contract" that I started to get ideas for how I could write my own Harry Potter fanfiction. Now I say that this one is based on the story "Cha** **mpions", however it will NOT be an attempt at a continuation or rewrite of that story. I will try to stay away from sounding like I am copying any of the fanfictions that I or you, the hopefully faithful readers, will have read, but with so many out there, there is always the possibility of stepping on another writers toes, so I will say this in advance: I am sorry if I used things I read in other's stories.**

 **This is a major Alternate Universe fic, as you will see from the very beginning. Some elements in the story will be revealed in this the prologue, if you will but from here there will be the inclusion of other elements that will be of interest to some and hated by others. Such as:**

 **1\. Good Draco raised by a Narcissa who hates her husband (you will see what happens to him later) and is all about family.**

 **2\. Animagus Harry (what kind of animal, you'll have to wait and see).**

 **3\. OC character as Harry's younger sister.**

 **4\. Fleur will be full Veela.**

 **5\. Some Molly and Ginny bashing.**

 **2/8/2017 - Repost with some minor errors that people pointed out fixed.**

 **For the record, I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with the universe except what is written here in this story.**

 **Repost with a couple of errors fixed and some changes to Molly and Bella's interaction just before the will reading.**

* * *

 **Prologue: The Boy Who Lived and the Reading of The Will**

* * *

 **The Boy Who Lived**

This October 31st had started as any other All Hallows Eve in the little community known as Godric's Hollow, England with children going around trick or treating dressed in all manner of costumes while being escorted by their parents, followed by families settling in for the traditional All Hallows Eve feasts, complete with the unwanted relatives visiting. As the night wore on, the lights in many of the houses were extinguished as their associated families went to bed. This was no different for one house that stood on the main lane in Godric's Hollow that had a waist-high wooden fence that enclosed a small lawn that surrounded a medium-sized quaint two-story cottage. No one in the village had seemed to notice this house, almost as if it had been erased from the memory of all who lived in the village.

Yet, this cottage seemed to be the subject of the gaze of a certain cloaked figure that stood just outside of the waist-high wooden gate, its eyes focused on a house that everyone else in the village would swear wasn't there. The figure was tall, thin, and had an aura of darkness and evil that seemed to radiate from the hooded and cloaked figure, a bone-white hand holding an equally white wand seemed to emerge from within the folds of the cloak and a moment later, a soft _click_ was heard as the gate swung open after the latch had been undone. The cloaked figure paused only long enough to glance around to see if anyone had noticed the sound. After he was certain that no one was responding to the gate's opening, the cloaked figure quickly made his way to the front door of the cottage with purposeful strides, for all intent and purposes disappearing from the view of anyone in the village who happened to be looking in the direction of this cottage.

It is a shame that no one in the village noticed the house because if they had, they would have seen the cloaked figure entering the yard and making his way to the front door, the front door opening nearly silently followed moments later by a man's startled shout cut short by a brilliant flash of green light and the sound of a body falling to the floor. They would have heard a woman's screaming for her husband. Then they would have heard the same woman begging for her child to be spared in a shrill voice full of fear, only for her begging to be cut short by a second brilliant flash of green light. Though no one noticed the cottage before, everyone in the quiet village noticed as a third flash of green light tore part of the second story of the cottage apart accompanied by a piercing scream filled with pain and a deafening explosion that sent pieces of debris in all directions.

A few minutes later, a tall, willow-thin man with sharp features, a hooked nose, twinkling blue eyes, a long wispy beard that seemed to stretch all the way to the man's knees, and matching hair that adorned the man's head in a sort of halo appeared outside of the same cottage with a nearly inaudible _crack_ , his heart suddenly gripped by the cold hand of fear as his eyes took in the damage. The man was none other than Albus Dumbledore, a man with too many titles to list, a man who had defeated a previous dark lord, and the leader of the resistance against the most recent dark lord that had plagued his homeland for decades. He was wearing purple wizarding robes than emphasized his willow-thin frame, half-moon shaped spectacles rested on his nose, and had his wand at the ready in his hand.

Dumbledore swiftly but cautiously moved forward towards the house, concern etched on his weathered features. As he pushed the front door open, Dumbledore felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach as he took in the wide-eyed figure of James Potter laying face up, unfocused and bespectacled eyes staring at the ceiling, his wand in hand, and his body laying before the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor. Albus spared a moment to kneel down next to James Potter, stretched out his hand and gently closed the man's eyelids as he whispered, "I am so sorry James. I should have insisted on being your secret-keeper."

After those words, Dumbledore made his way cautiously up the stairs to the second floor and to the nursery that was to his right, the door having been blown off of its hinges and into the room across the hall, the wall next to the door had been obliterated along with the roof over the nursery, debris strewn throughout the second story of the cottage. He slowly eased around the corner of the empty doorframe and felt his heart break as he took in the crumpled and lifeless form of Lily Potter lying before her son's crib, her flaming red hair spread in the shape of a halo around her head, her once vibrant emerald green eyes empty and dull as they stared at where the opposite wall would have been. Dumbledore again knelt down next to the lifeless body of one of his former students and ardent supporter in their fight against the Dark Lord Voldemort and gently closed her eyelids, whispering, "Be at peace Lily. I will find and look after your son."

As he straightened from the heart-wrenching task, movement in the crib caught Dumbledore's attention. As the old wizard, who was feeling quite ancient in that moment, turned to face the crib, his blue eyes met the steady gaze of a pair of emerald green eyes that were every bit as vibrant as their owner's mother's had been in life. It was an unconscious decision that propelled Albus forward to lift the toddler Harry Potter out of his crib and look at the child in wonder. No one in the known history of magic had survived being the target of the killing curse, Avada Kedavra, and yet, here in his arms was a boy no more than fifteen months old still alive with nothing more than a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead to show for it. Dumbledore knew that he would have to research how the child had survived, but that wasn't the priority right now, securing this child's safety was. Just as he was about to turn and leave the cottage, Dumbledore heard someone step on a piece of debris in the hall and spun fast enough to face the intruder that anyone would have sworn that he wasn't as old as he said he was. When Dumbledore finished his turn, he found his blue eyes locked with a pair of violet eyes that held an immense amount of grief. The eyes belonged to a young woman who was a vision of beauty with her long black hair falling to her narrow waist, an athletic yet alluring build with steel-corded muscles playing below soft porcelain skin, and womanly curves that were almost guaranteed to entrance any male within viewing radius. The woman was Bellatrix Potter and was the adopted older sister of James Potter and the big sister figure to Lily Potter neé Evans and she was wearing dark gray Auror robes that were both formfitting and yet loose enough to allow here complete freedom of movement, boots, and probably no less than four sheathes for throwing knives. As the two looked at each other, Dumbledore offered Bellatrix a small nod, "Bella, I'm sorry for your loss."

Bellatrix nodded in return, her voice full of pain and fear, "Ar-are they all dead? Is H-Harry still alive and where the bloody hell is the bastard that killed little Jaime and Lily?"

The bundle in his arms chose that moment to move, the toddler squirming a little. Dumbledore watched as Bellatrix's eyes flickered to the toddler in his arms and she moved forward to look at her godson. She reached out and caressed the toddler's face, tears welling up in her eyes as she whispered, "H-h-how is he still-?"

Dumbledore shook his head as he looked down at the toddler in his arms, "I don't know Bella, but as soon as I find out, I will let you know," then a sudden idea came to wizened old wizard, "but my guess is that because Lily sacrificed her life for Harry, her sacrifice protected Harry when Voldemort attempted to use the killing curse on the child, causing the curse to rebound on Riddle. Lily named you as Harry's godmother, correct?"

Bella looked up from her nephew/godson at that question and nodded, "Yes she did, why?"

Dumbledore answered, "Not here, let's meet at Grimmauld Place and we will discuss it with the Order."

* * *

 **A Little While Later**

 **The Potter Will**

A little while later, Bella with toddler Harry in her arms and sitting in the corner of the kitchen/dinning area, was amongst the other members of the Order of the Phoenix, who had been roused from their sleep by the urgent call from Dumbledore, her cousin and head of house, Lord Sirius Black of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black sitting between her and the rest of the order with his other brother in all-but-blood, Remus Lupin sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with him, shielding Bellatrix and toddler Harry from the rest of the order with their wands in hand. At the moment, the loudest member of the order, one Molly Weasley, was speaking out about what she obviously saw as the only appropriate course of action from this point forward for toddler Harry's life. Bellatrix was glad that she had put a small silencing charm on Harry so that he could stay asleep through all of the screeching that the Weasley Matriarch was doing. Bella turned her attention away from her godson cradled in her arms to pay attention to what was being said by the red headed rotund banshee, "…-nd we could give him a proper upbringing at the Burrow, Professor. We would raise him the right way, teach him about our world, and show him love, Albus. Besides, we also have a son around Harry's age and they could grow up to be best mates, I just know it Albus."

Dumbledore looked at the plump woman with a critical look and a disappointed tone, "Molly, placing Harry with your family, though I am sure he would be raised in a loving home, is completely against the wishes of James and Lily, and I have already disrespected their wishes once in the matter of their hiding place, I won't disrespect their wishes again."

Molly immediately offered a rebuttal, her voice dripping with venom, "Albus, she's one of them snakes. How do we know that she is even capable of loving little Harry?"

At this obvious attack on her person, Bellatrix stood up, handed Harry to his godfather, Sirius, and spoke up before Albus could respond, the venom in her voice matching that of the other woman, "Excuse me, Molly, have you been asleep for the last seven years, because I am fairly sure that I have been fighting right alongside everyone that has fought against those that you term as "my kind" the "evil snakes". Also, where the hell were you when Lily needed help trying to fit in after she started spending time with the Potter family over the summer breaks after her fifth year? Oh wait, that's right, you were already heavy with your first kid, or was it your second? I can't seem to recall."

Bella paused for a moment as she stared daggers at the red headed woman whose face was doing a fair imitation of her hair, cutting off any forthcoming response as she continued in an icy tone that dropped the temperature of the room by a couple of degrees, "Let me answer that question for you: No you didn't. In fact, as I recall, you were one of the ones calling her a mudblood to her face in front of Potter's family. It took me, a bloody snake and pureblood princess of a dark house to take Little Flower under her wing and protect her. As I recall, you let go of your prized Gryffindor courage anytime you saw Lily when the Marauders were anywhere in earshot and would join in with some of the other pureblood idiots in calling her that foul name to try and impress my cousin James so that you could grab a share of the Potter fortune by appealing to his 'pureblood pride'. I wonder how well that would have worked with you already having given at least one son to the House of Weasley. Tell me, Molly, were you planning on using Amorentia to capture his affections? What would you have done about your husband and already born sons? Divorce, or were you planning something fouler for them, an accident maybe? Then you could have claimed what little the Weasley family had and then gone after James, following an appropriate grieving period, of course. With thinking like that, you would have done well in Slytherin."

With her last insult loosed, Bellatrix returned to her corner, taking her godson from Sirius as she moved past him to sit down again. Everyone seemed to be waiting for the flash of the infamous Molly Weasley temper, and they were surely not disappointed as said woman began screeching in a fair imitation of one of her infamous howlers, "NOW SEE HERE YOU SNAKE WHO-"

Whatever she was going to say was lost when her voice was stolen as someone cast a silencing charm on her. It took a few moments, but when Molly realized that she didn't have her voice anymore, the woman seemed to become even more enraged as she cast incredulous looks around at everyone in the room until her eyes found the culprit, whose wand was still pointed at her. When she saw who it was, the anger seemed to vanish as her eyes met the eyes of her husband, Arthur Weasley. Molly had only seen her husband truly enraged a few times in all the years that they have been together, but she knew that when he got like this, there was no going against him. She kept her eyes on his stormy blue eyes as he said in a flat tone that showed just how angry he was with her, "Molly, go home and wait for me to get there. Leave now before you cause anymore problems."

Everyone watched in awe as Molly Weasley didn't try to argue with her husband but stand up silently and left the kitchen. A few moments later, everyone heard the front door of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place open and shut, signaling that the Weasley Matriarch had decided to use apparition to travel to their home, the Burrow, in Ottery St. Catchpole.

Dumbledore let the silence linger for a few moments longer before he continued, "Now then, James and Lily left very clear instructions that the public part of their will was to be activated immediately upon their death, so as soon as I contacted all of you, I contacted the Potters' Account Manager, Drakefang, who should be arriving short-."

He was cut off as the sound of the door knocker being used echoed through the house from the front door. Sirius immediately rose and headed out of the kitchen while stating in passing, "I'll get it."

A few moments later, Sirius returned accompanied by a grizzled goblin with a fringe of salt-n-pepper hair that circled the back of his head from pointed ear to pointed ear, a hooked and crooked nose, pointed teeth behind thin lips, bushy eyebrows that matched his hair, beetle black eyes, and a broad frame that still radiated power even while wearing hastily thrown on shirt, trousers, and shoes. The goblin was carrying a square shaped black box that looked to be just over a foot long on each side and stood a good ten inches tall. The goblin immediately undid the four bronze briefcase-style clasps, one adorning each side of the box, removed the top, and carefully lifted a stone bowl a foot across and adorned with a ring of runes around the outer edge out of the box and rested it in the center of the table, which had been cleared for this purpose. After ensuring the silvery smoke-like liquid had settled properly after the transporting, the goblin looked up and addressed the gathered witches and wizards, his voice full of gravel and grief, "For those of you who do not know me, my name is Drakefang, account manager of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter's accounts and vaults, and a close personal friend of Lord James and Lady Lily Potter," he paused for a moment before continuing as he gestured to the stone bowl, "This pensieve contains the public will of Lord and Lady Potter. Before I begin, I would like to know if young Harry Potter survived the event that claimed his parents because that would change the will if he did not."

Bellatrix answered from her seat with a sleeping toddler Harry in her arms, "Yes he did."

Everyone watched as the goblin moved over to where Bella was sitting and looked down at the toddler in her arms, a soft smile causing the corners of his mouth to twitch upwards. He looked up at Bellatrix for a moment before giving her a small nod and after a quiet exchange between the two, he headed back to where the pensieve rested on the table. Drakefang seemed to look over the pensieve for a moment, as if ensuring that it hadn't been tampered with before he tapped three runes around the edge of the bowl causing an ethereal projection of James and Lily Potter to spring upwards from the bowl.

The pensieve image of James spoke first, "This is the last will and testament of myself, Lord James Potter, and my wife, Lady Lily Potter nee' Evans, but before we get into the weeds on who gets what out of the will, I must say a few words to those that are gathered to view this will reading. Sirius, if you are here and I hope that you are, neither Lily or I want you to go running off doing something that you will regret. I know that you probably blame yourself for whatever happened to cause this will reading to occur. The reason I tell you this, brother, is that Bellatrix will need your help to raise our son, not to mention a certain Lady Amelia Bones will never forgive you for running off on her just to satisfy your lust for revenge."

As he said this, both Sirius and Amelia blushed brilliantly as everyone else cracked a smile at the not-so-secret secret lovers. In fact, unbeknownst to the two of them, there was a pool going on when the two of them would get together officially instead of sneaking off to unused rooms like a pair of school children. Before the teasing could begin, the pensieve image of James Potter continued, " Also, I would like to set the record straight and inform any and all present that Peter Pettigrew was our secret keeper, who is an illegal Animagus that can turn into a rat. The goblins informed us that that would suffice for the Wizengamot to keep from throwing my brother-in-all-but-blood in Azkaban without a trial. Now that I have said my piece and thoroughly embarrassed my best friend and his girlfriend, we can get on with the formal part of this will reading."

Everyone watched as the pensieve image of Lily Potter picked up from there, "First, we leave our son, Harry James Potter in the loving care of his second mother-slash-godmother, Bellatrix Potter. We also pass on our titles, assets, and seats in the Wizengamot to the same until such time as Harry is old enough and mature enough to take the responsibility of being the Head of House of a Most Ancient and Noble House. Bella, my sister-in-law and in-all-but-blood, I know that you will do everything you can to raise Harry the right way and ensure that he will be a great wizard and an even greater man."

Bella felt tears well up in her eyes as she heard her sister-in-all-but-blood say these words. She looked down at the sleeping toddler in her arms and realized that she was now responsible for two people now. Bella didn't have any more time to think about it as James continued where her sister had left off, "The only exceptions to what was said are as follows: To Moony, we leave the Potter Hunting Cabin in the Scottish Highlands and all the grounds and house-elves associated with it in hopes that that will provide you a warm bed and a safe harbor in those times when you are down. We also leave you, Remus, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand galleons, to be used wisely and assist you in chasing your dreams, my friend as well as extend the invitation for you to become an official member of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter as a vassal. We hope that this will open doors for you, Moony, that otherwise might have been shut."

To say that Remus Lupin was shocked by his friends' generosity was close to being the understatement of the century. Remus could only watch on with the rest with sorrow in his heart as he remembered how he, James, and Sirius had talked about how perfect the same hunting cottage would be for someone like him with its vast acres of wilderness was the perfect property for a werewolf. He also remembered how James had joked that if he liked it so much that he would give it to him as a gift, only for Remus to turn it down because he couldn't pay for it and he didn't want to be a charity case. Remus chuckled at the fact that his friend had found a way to give him the property still and not make it out to be a charity case. Remus was shaken out of his musings as Lily continued, "To Professor Dumbledore, we leave the sum of five hundred thousand galleons to be used to pay for the books, supplies, food, and board of muggleborn witches and wizards who will attend Hogwarts in the future as well as an annual donation of one hundred thousand galleons to continue the fund. You have always sought equality for every young witch and wizard that has passed through the halls of Hogwarts, Professor, and think of this as a way for a muggleborn witch such as myself to repay that kindness in the hopes that you will continue to be the voice of equality in an otherwise bigoted world."

Dumbledore bowed his head so that others wouldn't see the tears that were welling up in his eyes. Lily had truly been one of his brightest students and had always sought to fight against those that would be unkind or prejudiced against those that they saw as being of lesser birth while she was a student and even after she had left Hogwarts. He brought his head back up as Lily continued to speak, "To my favorite professor, Minerva McGonagall, we leave our flat, its contents and house-elf in the magical part of Edinburgh, Scotland in the hopes that she will find it as a nice retreat after each school year."

Minerva gave the pensieve image of her favorite student a watery smile in thanks for the beautiful gesture. From there, the will reading continued for several more minutes as both James and Lily continued to show their generosity to those that they saw as family and their close friends. James had even been able to sneak the single sickle payback to Sirius for "an old bet" that got Sirius to give a single bark in laughter at his brother's humor as well as a gift of five hundred thousand galleons to Drakefang for being such a good friend and account manager for James and Lily. Once the will reading was done and the image had faded back into the bowl, causing the previously glowing runes to go dark, Drakefang picked up the bowl and placed it back in its travel case as the rest of the Order filed out with written slips of parchment from Drakefang with dates and times for appointments to finalize their inheritance from the Potters' Will.

After everyone else had left and it was just Bella with toddler Harry in her arms, Sirius, Remus, Drakefang, Amelia Bones, and Albus Dumbledore remaining in the dining area of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, Albus asked the obvious question, "Bella, where will you go to raise Harry? I think that we can all agree that he should be raised in an environment away from all of the fame of being the "Boy-Who-Lived"."

Bella looked at the old headmaster and bit her lower lip as she thought about it. Before she could answer, Drakefang spoke up, "If I may be so bold as to make a recommendation, Lady Potter?"

Bellatrix nodded, still not used to the fact that she now had that title, "Please do, Drakefang."

The old goblin nodded and continued, "The Potter estate just outside of Edwinsford, Wales is both large enough and remote enough to provide the privacy that you seek. True, Edwinsford is largely a magical community, but they have always respected the desire for privacy. Also, the Potter's Estate there is unplottable and under the Fidelius Charm with me as its secret keeper due to it being out of use currently."

Bellatrix thought about it for a few minutes before she nodded, "That sounds perfect Drakefang, thank you. I will ask that you transfer the secret keeper responsibility to me so that I can better control who has access to the property and I request that you arrange for the strongest wards possible be placed around the property."

She watched as Drakefang bowed to her, "As you wish, Lady Potter. I will make the arrangements as soon as I get back to Gringotts and the wards will be in place before the sun rises."

After that was settled, the assembled group went through the magical process to transfer the secret keeper responsibilities from Drakefang to Bellatrix, who then immediately shared the secret of the location of the Edwinsford Estate with all present.

* * *

 **A New Home**

It was a short time later that Bellatrix Potter stepped out of the green flames of the hearth at the large main house of the Edwinsford Estate and called for one of the house-elves, "Misty."

There was a soft _crack_ as the female house-elf apparated in front of Bellatrix and said in her soft voice, "What does missus be needin' from Misty?"

Bellatrix sighed as she said, her voice full of emotion, "Misty, there is no easy way to tell you this but Lord James and Lady Lily were murdered tonight."

Misty looked shocked, tears welling up in her tennis ball sized gray eyes, her mouth becoming a deep frown as she began to wail, "Not Master James and Missus Lily! Whys they have to die?"

Bellatrix let the little house-elf cry out her grief over the loss of James and Lily, silently shedding her own tears over their loss. After both had cried for several minutes, their grieving was interrupted by a certain toddler waking up and announcing with fog-horn loud wails that he needed attention. This startled Misty out of her grieving as she looked up at her new missus, "toddler Harry is alive? He's alive! Did missus Bella bring him here to live?"

Bellatrix nodded to the elf and before she could say anything, the house-elf stepped forward and silently asked for her to hand Harry to her, which Bella did. As soon as the Misty had toddler Harry in her arms, she immediately led the way through the house to the nursery that had been set up so long ago for Master James when he was a toddler. Once they arrived in the nursery, Bella watched as Misty called for another house-elf, "Makon."

The other house-elf appeared with a _crack_ and said, "What you be needin' Misty?"

Misty spoke, "Go get diapers for toddler-master Harry."

The elf nodded and disapparated with another soft _crack_. He was only gone for a couple of minutes before he reappeared with everything that Misty would need to change Harry's diaper. Misty then set about showing Bella how to change Harry's diaper and telling Makon to start making the house ready to be lived in. After Harry was changed and put to bed in his crib, Misty showed Bella through the doors on one side of the room and into the master suite. Bella thanked Misty and dismissed her, telling the house-elf that she will call for her in the morning. Misty nodded and disapparated with a _crack_.

Once the house-elf was gone, Bella allowed herself to collapse onto the king-size bed and cry over the loss of her cousin-turned-brother and a woman who was a third younger sister to her. Many hours later, Bella had finally exhausted herself and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

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 **A/N: So, please review and let me know what you think.**


	2. The World Cup and What Came After

**A/N: So, let me start off by saying thank you to all of the amazing response I have received for just the prologue of the story. Secondly, based on concerns voiced in not just one, but three different reviews, I have decided about backing off on the Hermione blood adoption thing and decided to go with an OC little sister that will be five years younger than Harry. You will get to meet her in the next chapter. Her name is to be decided when I start writing the next chapter.**

 **Thank you to unanonymous for the correction about the spelling of the name of the killing curse.**

 **2/10/17 - Repost with some changes to how Harry's fight against Fleur's attackers goes. Made the fight less Seer Kung Fu and more along the lines of how Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes fights in the movies. Hopefully you like it.**

 **Also, I have a poll up on my profile on whether or not I should edit Fleur's accent into the story. Vote and let me know.**

 **Let me check, nope still don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.**

 **As always, read, enjoy, and please review.**

* * *

 **The World Cup and What Came After**

* * *

 **A Bad Situation**

She was running. There was just no two ways about it, Fleur Delacour was running for her life through the nighttime forest close to where, just a few hours ago, her and her family had enjoyed the championship match of the Quidditch World Cup where Ireland had won the match despite the Bulgarian Seeker, Viktor Krum, catching the snitch, a golf-ball sized golden ball with wings that flitted around the Quidditch pitch at speeds too fast for the human eye to see most of the time. In fact, the only negative to coming to the match had been the openly staring witches and wizards who had been ogling her and her mother with open lust or jealousy, for Fleur, her sister, and her mother were Veela and thus had a strong magical allure that drew others, muggle or magical, to them as a moth to a flame and further accentuated their natural beauty.

The night had been relatively quiet following the match, despite the Ireland fans' loud and overly-enthusiastic, in her opinion, celebration, and her family had retired to their tent to discuss the finer points of the match, Fleur and her father, Dastan Delacour, both being avid Quidditch fans, while her mother, Apolline, and her sister, Gabrielle, were only marginally interested in the sport, when, for lack of a better term, all hell broke loose. Their first sign that something was amiss was the unnatural silence that seemed to fall over the large city of wizarding tents that housed the families that had attended the match, followed by the sounds of spells being fired and people screaming. Dastan, having been an Auror for the French Ministry of Magic during the last war against a dark lord, a British dark lord by the name of Lord Voldermort, immediately told his wife and daughters to head for their backup portkey, a magical transportation device that activated when touched and a certain phrase said in some cases, while he drew his wand and exited the tent in an effort to join with the British wizards and witches that were fighting against whoever the attackers were. When the three women had exited the tent, they had immediately been swept away by the mass of people, all of them trying to get away from whoever the attackers were. Somehow during the attempted mass exodus from the sight of a groups of masked and cloaked figures firing random dark spells indiscriminately at tents or people that crossed their path while they marched forward with what appeared to be a muggle family suspended in the air above their group, Fleur had been separated from the rest of her family.

Now, with the sounds and flashes of a pitched spell fire fight the distance behind her, Fleur was running in the direction that everyone else had gone to escape. She had lost track of how long she had been running, it couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes, but to her adrenaline-fueled body it felt like hours. As Fleur continued to search for her family at the edges of the forest under the light of a full moon and an eerie orange glow on the horizon behind her, she had to admit to herself that she was lost. Fleur slowed down and came to a halt leaning her back against the wide trunk of an oak tree as she surveyed her surroundings. The area of the forest she found herself in had a high canopy that stretched from one tree to the tree next to it and little to no underbrush, causing all of the trunks to appear silver when the light of the moon hit them. At any other time, Fleur would have found the sight beautiful, but right now, she saw deadly shadows lurking in the midst of the trees.

She had just begun to breathe deeply, trying to slow her heartrate like her father taught her and her sister to do when they were scared or excited and in an attempt to ease the stich that had formed in her side due to all of the running she had done since this madness had started when she heard a soft _crack_ nearby to her right. Fleur immediately froze at the sound, a small amount of fear coming to life in her gut. She drew her wand and whispered, "Homenum Revelio."

Fleur instantly felt the pulse of magic extend out from her wand like a sonar ping, the magic searching for and revealing to her the presence of seven people, and judging by the returns that she got, all of them males and much bigger than her. The small inkling of fear turned into a full blown icy shower when she heard a gravelly voice very close to her, "'ello Poppet. Wha' ye recken we 'ave we 'ere boys?"

The voice came from her right and as she turned to face the voice, another answered from the other side in a lilting tenor, "Why Georgie, it be looken like one of them 'eela birdies ye saw earlier."

The first voice answered with a low chuckle that made Fleur's blood feel as if it had been replaced with subfreezing ice water, the moonlight causing the man's lewd smile to glow eerily in the shadow that outlined his tall and willow-thin form, "Why Mack, I do recken ye' be right 'bout tha'," then turning that smile that made Fleur's stomach give an involuntary lurch as she came to realize what these men wanted before he continued, "and it seem te me tha' our little birdie be all lone-like. Wha'ever shall we do 'bout tha', boys?"

Fleur began to quiver with fear as she heard a round of the same sickening chuckles coming the other men that were slowly closing in on her. As she looked around at the shadowed figures, Fleur same the same light gleaming in their eyes that she had seen one other time when one of the boys at her school had tried to force himself upon her because he was unable to resist the natural allure that Veela like Fleur have. Fleur's eyes flickered to the others around her, trying to judge who to fight first as she said, "Zay back! My fazzer is th-"

Her threat was cut off as the now-identified Georgie barked out a mocking laugh, "Aww, Poppet, we don't be caren who yer father is or if yer a Frenchie or wha'. We jus' know tha' we're all lonely men who be wanten to keep ye company on this chill night," and then continued while turning to his companions, "izn't tha' right, boys?"

Another round of chuckles floated its way to Fleur's ears as the men drew closer to her, closing their net as it were, trapping her completely. She thought to herself as she prepared to defend herself from a fate that was worse than death, _I have to do something! I can't let these pigs have their way with me!_

Suddenly Fleur's fear was replaced by an all-consuming rage. She screamed as the air around her began to grow warm as her magic slipped her control and radiated from her, "You will not touch me!"

Fleur loosed a brilliant flash of white light from the tip of her wand, bright enough to blind her assailants momentarily and tried to make a run for it, aiming for a gap in their ranks that looked large enough to get through while her assailants were momentarily blinded only to be thrown backwards by a low-powered blasting curse that caught her in the chest. As her momentum was reversed, Fleur felt her wand slip from her hand only moments before her back followed by the back of her head connected with the tree that she had been using to keep from being completely surrounded. Stars exploded in her vision at the instant her head connected with the tree and she felt like she lost control of her body as she crumpled to the ground due to her legs no longer working properly. Her head spun as she heard more than saw the figures closing in around her, their lecherous grins reflecting the moonlight from above and that same greedy, lust-filled light dancing in their eyes. Suddenly a voice cut through the ringing that had taken residence in her ears, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Poppet, Poppet, Poppet, wha' would ye try te run fer? We're only bein' kindly, genteel folk wanten te keep ye company in this tryin' hour. All we asken' is tha' ye share a little bit of ye'self te pay us back. Iz tha' so much te ask fer?"

As Georgie finished speaking, he knelt down in front of her, grabbing her chin with one of his grubby hands. Fleur couldn't quite focus on the scum in front of her as her head was still spinning from the impact on the tree. Through her muddled thoughts, Fleur summoned as much clarity as possible and spat in the man's face. She saw anger take hold in the man's eyes a moment before stars exploded in her vision for the second time as the man used his hold on her chin to pull her head forward and then slam it into the tree trunk she was slumped against.

Fleur was dimly aware of the man releasing her chin and standing up before her, making a big show of wiping the spit from his face as he said, "Poppet, why would ye do tha'? All we were doin was bein kind and asken' nice like."

The other men had watched in anticipation as their leader had drawn his wand while speaking to their prey, "Now, since ye not wanten te be social and share with all us boys, we're taken our payment now. CRUCIO!"

Fleur's mind suddenly became clear as her body locked up as what felt like thousands of dull nails were being driven into every square inch of her body, the pain so overwhelming that all she could do was scream…

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

Harry James Potter was not having a very good night. It had started out great with watching Ireland winning the Quidditch World Cup alongside his family, followed by getting to meet Viktor Krum and heading back to their family tent to exchange seeker stories with the Bulgarian. As they had been talking, the topic of Harry and Viktor's conversation drifted from Quidditch to other things such as school, family, and had moved onto childhood stories when an oppressive silence fell over the camping grounds, causing Harry to fall silent.

Everyone in the Potter family tent fell silent until they saw the first flash of light followed a few heartbeats later by a loud _BOOM_ that resonated through the earth under their feet. Instantly Harry's mother jumped into action, barking orders like the senior auror that she was, "Harry, take your sister, cousins, and our guest, and head for our backup portkey. You and Nym know the password. Remus, Cissy, Andi, Sirius, and Ami with me. We're going to link up with the aurors here and fight whoever the bloody hell is doing this. Go!"

Harry and the others immediately moved to obey and left the tent, blending into the mass of humanity while desperately trying to keep track of each other. As they ran along with everyone trying to flee, they had watched as spells of all manner started flying from the wands of the attackers indiscriminately as they sought to cause as much havoc and fear as possible, several of the spells starting to land around and amongst the people fleeing the scene, causing screams to be loosed from frightened or injured witches and wizards with Harry's cousin Tonks leading the group and Harry trailing, protecting their backs from the attackers and to ensure that they stayed together.

Everything seemed to be going fine as they were running towards the forest, which should have let Harry know that something would go wrong with Murphy being the right bastard that he was, until a particularly powerful blasting hex hit the ground directly at Harry's left side and sent him sailing through the air and into several tents that hadn't been touched by the devastation yet…

* * *

 **The Rescue**

By the time that the others had managed to put some distance between them and where Harry had gotten hit by that blasting curse, one Harry Potter was slowly regaining control over his body after his impromptu and completely unguided flight which had been followed by a particularly rough landing that had seen him inventing a new way of rapidly taking down wizarding tents: the tumbling body method. While Harry looked back towards where he had been hit and surveyed the varying degrees of success of his new method for taking down wizarding tents, he was also trying to reorient himself the way his mother and Uncles Remus and Sirius along with his Aunts Amelia, Cissy, and Andi had taught him to do, his senses keen for where the next attack may come from.

He was looking towards the group of cloaked and masked figures who seemed to have a whole muggle family suspended in the air above them when one of them noticed him standing amongst the ruin of five or six tents and lifted his wand to fire a spell from some thirty feet away. Harry didn't wait to find out what the guy was going to send his way as he dove to the side while pointing his wand back towards his attacker and loosed a silent blasting hex that hit the remains of a tent near the masked man, shattering it and sending his antagonist and wooden shrapnel into the two of his compatriots, causing all of the rest to turn their attention towards their fallen comrades and ignore the source of the hex. This gave Harry the break he needed to get up and take off towards the forest as he silently counted the seconds until one of the masked goons noticed him running, _One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-_.

Just as he reached three a fireball caught the tent immediately to his right on fire followed by several more various colored hexes, several of them quite nasty if he remembered his training with his mother and uncles correctly at all. It took all of Harry's instincts and reflexes honed over years of training from his family for something like this and Quidditch to avoid and defend against the spells being sent at him. He had just reached the edge of the tents with one thought running through his head, _well, now I'm screwed. All out of cover._

Just as that thought flitted through his mind, Harry heard the _pop-pop-pop_ of multiple people apparating into the area and suddenly the spells being sent his way stopped as his attackers now had a whole group of enemies to face as the battle was joined in earnest. Harry didn't bother to look back as he kept his legs and arms pumping towards the forest that now lay directly in front of him. To be safe, Harry slowed down from his dead sprint to a jog as he moved into the forest as he heard the sounds of a pitched battle raging where the campground used to be. He didn't know who was winning but he was hoping that his family and friends had managed to get to the portkey location. After a little while more, Harry slowed down again and began walking as he started taking stock of his condition: _extremities work just fine if not a little scraped up, ribs are a little sore, probably bruised, but not broken thankfully, clothing is a little singed and torn but still fine, and my wand is intact and in working condition if that hex was any indication._

Just as he was finishing his self-assessment, Harry heard a woman scream in pain. Harry froze at the sound because whoever she was wasn't just screaming in pain, she was being tortured. He pulled his wand out and cast a silent _Homenum Revelio_ to see where the scream was coming from and sure enough, a moment later, the spell revealed that there were eight people to his right a short distance away. If he had had any kind of qualms about going to whoever the person's aid, they vanished as said person let out another scream that made his blood turn cold. He quickly and quietly moved through the sparse underbrush of the old forest towards where the spell had revealed the people to be.

As he reached the edge of the small clearing where he could see seven men from the size and bulk of their shadowy shapes standing around one woman who was on the ground between all of them, her clothes seemed to be torn and her body writhing under what Harry could only assume was the Cruciatus Curse, one of the Three Unforgivables, curses so evil that the mere use of them could never be forgiven and carried the instant penalty of a Dementor's Kiss. Fire flashed through his veins as rage flooded his system at the sight while the animagus part of him roared for blood as his vision became tinged with red. With barely a thought, Harry cast both a silent disillusionment charm and a silencing charm on himself and crept out of his hiding place, moving quickly towards the group but slow enough that no one would notice the slight shimmer of his not-quite-perfect disillusionment charm. As he drew even with one of the men, placing himself in a position to strike, he shook his left hand just the right way to allow his dagger hidden in his forearm holster to slide into his hand. He quietly drew a deep breath and calmed himself in preparation to strike, his mind quickly analyzing his opponents and the chaos that would ensue when he struck, _First, throw knife at opponent casting the torture curse. Next, opponent to my left seems to be favoring his left knee as he has the majority of his weight being supported by his right leg; analysis: side kick to his right knee to obliterate the joint, elbow to side of jaw as he falls to silence and render unconscious. Then, step inside of his buddy to my right's reach before he can react, use left arm to deflect wand arm, right arm to deliver a powerful forearm strike to side of jaw to break followed by low kick to right knee, driving it backwards and destroying the tendons and meniscus, and banish now disabled opponent into his friends across from me to momentarily take them out of the fight._

Harry's eyes flickered to the opponent on the opposite side of him as he tried to plan the next stage of the fight, _Close distance between me and the opponent to my left while firing a bone breaker/stunner/banishing combo at his friend to shatter his wand hand, render him unconscious and send him flying into the three that will just be getting themselves untangled from their other unconscious friend. Strike initial target with elbow to solar plexus followed by open palm upper cut to man's jaw to break and render unconscious._

He then surveyed the final three and thought, _Strike with a combination of stunners and bone breakers while they are trying to disentangle themselves from their two comrades. Verify that all of them are unconscious with stunners, send patronus to my mum, and transfigure something into a blanket to cover up the girl. End result: all threats neutralized with one dead and all others in various states of disrepair and unconscious._

Georgie had been enjoying himself with the torture and slow disrobing of the French Veela whore that was lying in the middle of their little group and judging by the heavy breathing that he was hearing from the others around their prize, the others were becoming as aroused by her screams and the slow revealing of her feminine assets as he was. He ended the Cruciatus curse with a flick of his wand and grinned at his compatriots, "So, who is wanten the first taste?"

Before any of them could respond that they wanted the first go at the Veela, there was a flicker of movement from across the circle, a flash of something in the moonlight and Georgie felt a sensation that he never wanted to feel as a dagger blade slid through his ribs and into his body just to the right of his heart. Georgie looked down at the black handle that had seemed to suddenly appear on his chest and registered that if the knife had been thrown an inch to the left, it would have pierced his heart. He was about to count his lucky stars that it missed his heart and lungs when a debilitating fire swept through his blood. Almost as soon as it had started, the fire in his blood stopped as death claimed him.

None of the other would-be rapists had a chance to react to the sudden departure of their leader as everyone heard the sickening _pop-pop-pop-crack_ and watched as a second of their companion's right knee went towards his left in a manner that almost had them believing that he had turned his knee sideways and was accompanied by the same man's loud shriek of pain, only for him to be silenced by a sharp elbow strike to the side of the jaw, knocking him out cold. The man crumpled to the ground unnoticed as every still-standing member of their group was focused on the now-visible young man standing next to where their friend had gone down. Harry, not waiting for them to recover from their initial shock, burst into motion, becoming a devastating blur in the midst of the group of men who just wanted to have a good time with the French Veela, but now found themselves in a fight for their lives. Well, not so much a fight as them being systematically dismantled by this knight in shining armor. Their spell fire being countered by the knight's quick feet, deadly aim, and impressive and creative usage of banishing charms. Oh, and let's not forget to mention the knight's well trained mind and body. The different colors of light caused by spells being used flashed back and forth between the group, not to mention at the very least two flying bodies, interspersed with the sounds of bones breaking, full grown men screaming like little girls, and the occasional _thud_ of a body unceremoniously meeting the ground after being mangled in some way, shape, or form.

Fleur, who had been barely holding on to consciousness through the repeated application of the Cruciatus, felt the curse lift, heard that sick person, who seemed to be the leader of this group, say something that she couldn't hear past the ringing in her ears only to be answered by a shadow flickering past her pain-blurred vision followed by the sound of the object hitting one of her attackers. She barely was able to register the sounds and sights of the fight that was going on around her as Fleur slipped into darkness with the last thing she saw being a pair of emerald green eyes darkened by uninhibited fury as they quickly took in the state of her tremoring and almost nude body and refocused on the men that had been attacking her. One last clear thought broke through to the forefront of her pain-addled mind as the darkness claimed her: those eyes were the most beautiful thing that she had ever seen…

* * *

 **Meeting the Father**

Harry had finished off the attackers and had sent off his stag patronus as he finally turned his attention back to the now unconscious girl. He grabbed a stick that was lying on the ground nearby, transfigured it into a blanket large enough to wrap all the way around the girl, laid it on the ground near the girl, used the Leviosa spell to levitate her onto the middle of the blanket before wrapping the blanket around her, and picked her up bridal style just as he heard the _crack-crack-crack_ of multiple people apparating to his location. The first person he had seen was his mother, a little dirty and frazzled, but otherwise the same stunning beauty that she always was with fire dancing in her eyes and her wand ready. Bellatrix only relaxed when she saw that her little boy was completely unharmed though the girl in his arms required a little more explaining in her opinion. The second person he noticed was a bear of a man that stood almost half a foot over six feet with a broad, barrel chested frame that was heavy with thick muscle, strong features, black hair cut short and beginning to gray at the temples, and piercing sea blue eyes that bore a look of deep concern at the moment. The third was Harry's godfather and uncle, Sirius Black. He was of average height with a narrow frame the supported a willow-thin build that hid a lot of strength, shoulder-length shaggy black hair, sharp black eyes, aristocratic features, and a five o'clock shadow. Everyone watched as the bear of a man let out a sharp gasp and charged towards Harry, his eyes fixed on the girl in his arms.

Harry, not knowing who this man was, shifted to where his body was slightly protecting the girl in his arms and said as he shifted his wand hand to point his wand at the man's knee, his voice full of steel, "Come any closer and you will regret it. If you want to get to her, you'll have to go through me."

Dastan Delacour stopped in his tracks and looked around for the first time, taking in the sight of the circle of dead and unconscious men as well as the state that their bodies were in. He was shocked at the devastation that had been wrought on this group and kind of surprised that he hadn't noticed it when he, Bella, and Sirius, both of whom he had fought alongside in the previous war against Voldermort, had apparated to this location. After surveying the damage for a moment longer, he turned his attention back to the boy who was protectively holding onto his oldest daughter and had her modestly wrapped in a large blanket that he had probably used transfiguration to create. His sea blue eyes met emerald green eyes that held an edge in them, as if daring Dastan to do something and somehow seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he had seen such expressive emerald eyes before as he spoke, "You would seek to keep a father from checking on the condition of his daughter?"

The boy's reaction was immediate and humorous as the boy flushed beat red and stammered, "Oh, uh, my apologies, sir? I didn't know that you were her father."

Bella took this moment to intervene, "Harry, it would probably be a good idea to give young Miss Delacour to her father now. That is, unless you want to marry the girl? Then I daresay my sweet little boy, that you will find a very angry papa bear in front of you and you will be on your own."

Harry did his best imitation of his friend Ron Weasley as his face flushed an even darker shade of red as he squeaked out the first word of his response, "Marriage?!"

He then gathered himself and continued, his eyes flickering down to the unconscious girl still in his arms before returning to his mother-in-all-but-blood and his godfather, "You're not going to let this one go are you?"

Both Bellatrix and Sirius gave him what Harry and his friends had come to term the "Marauders' Grin". He felt as if a led weight had been dropped into his stomach as he knew the answer to his question was a resounding "No" even before Sirius spoke up in a playful tone, "Let's see: Save a very beautiful girl, check, wrap her up in a blanket to protect her modesty, probably after getting an eyeful of her beauty yourself, check, and then threaten her father's wellbeing if he tries to take his daughter back from you, check," he paused for dramatic effect, "nope, not letting this one go anytime soon, Prongslet. So, what kind of wedding cake do you want? Oh, and by the way, dibs on planning your bachelor party."

Harry groaned in response as both his mom and uncle both chuckled at his expense. That was also when Dastan Delacour was studying him very intently, probably looking for the bloody scar, just like everyone else did when they heard his name. So it came as a surprise when the man spoke, cutting off his mother and uncle's mirth, "Is there somewhere we can go and discuss things more privately? Also I would like to have my daughter rest in an actual bed and not the young man's arms all night."

Sirius quipped before Harry could respond, "Oh, I'm sure Harry wouldn't mind having her _in his arms_ all night, Daz. Isn't that right, Harry?"

Again Harry groaned at his uncle's antics. Seriously, was he trying to get him murdered by a man that, despite his earlier bravado, could actually pick him up and break him in half without a second thought and who happened to be the father of the girl in his arms at the moment? He was so busy wallowing in how his life was so unfair at the moment that he almost missed the slender pair of arms that snaked up around his neck and the girl's soft form snuggle further into his chest with a content sigh. Harry looked down at the girl and was surprised to see that she was still unconscious but somehow had managed to get her arms free of the blanket. Somehow that sigh caught all three adults' attention. Dastan spoke again, his voice taut with anxiety, "We need to move somewhere more private, now."

Bella's eyes flickered between where her longtime friend Dastan was standing, suddenly tense for some reason, and where her son was holding Dastan's beautiful daughter in his arms when she noticed that the girl's arms had found their way around her son's neck and nodded, "Come with us to our home, Dastan. You can contact your family from there and we can have the best mediwitch I know have a look at her."

Bella quickly conjured a piece of parchment and a pen, gotta love some of the muggle inventions, and quickly jotted something down before handing it to Dastan, "Read and remember this. Also, I will allow you to pass the note on to your wife so that she can come through the floo. My house-elf will tell you what you need to know."

Sirius spoke up, "I'll follow in a bit, after I take care of these goons and get them into custody," then seeing his nephew's glance towards the dagger embedded to the hilt in one of the men's chest added, "don't worry Harry, I'll bring your dagger back to you. Also, I will need an official statement and pensive memory from you for the report, when you are available."

With that decided, Bellatrix moved over to stand by her son and placed a hand on his shoulder while speaking, "Misty."

A moment later, the motherly house-elf had appeared in front of her mistress via apparition, "What does Lady Potter need of Misty?"

Bella smiled at the house-elf, "Can you take Monsieur Delacour to our home and then show him to the floo fire place so that he can contact his family?"

The little house-elf's ears flapped wildly as she nodded, "Oh yes, Lady Potter. At once Lady Potter."

With that, the little house-elf took Dastan's hand in hers and they disapparated with a _crack_ only to be followed a moment later by Bellatrix taking Harry and Fleur by side-along apparition with a second _crack_.

* * *

 **A/N: First actual chapter done. As always, let me know what you think. Until next time, remember our old friend Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) who died this past week.**


	3. The Life Debt Confirmed

**A/N: So, here is chapter three. I know that I promised that I would introduce Harry's little sister in this chapter, but as it turned out, I felt like there had already been a lot revealed in this chapter so I cut it a little short. Sorry. Promise, you will get to meet her in the next chapter. As it is, there is a lot in this chapter.**

 **1/25/16 - Repost after changing the potion used to a simple sleeping potion.**

 **2/10/2017 - Repost with some minor changes and fixing some of my earlier mistakes that I noticed upon rereading.**

 **Damn, still don't own anything to do with Harry Potter except what I have written here.**

 **As always, read and enjoy.**

* * *

 **The Life Debt Confirmed**

* * *

 **Confirmation**

Dastan Delacour and the house-elf Misty arrived in the foyer of the Edwinsford Potter family home with a _crack_. It took him a few moments to get his bearings, after all it had been over twenty-two years since he had had to be side-along apparated, but when he did, Dastan found himself standing in a large foyer with a six-foot tall fireplace set on the wall to his left that had an ornate jar resting on the mantle that he assumed contained floo powder, hardwood floors gave the house an overall feeling of warmth and comfort, the walls and high ceiling were done in a slight off-white pearl color that accented the warm feeling of the large house. He felt a strong urge to leave the house for some reason and it confused him for a moment before he remembered the piece of parchment in his hand. He looked down and read, _The Ancestral Home of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter is located at Potter Manor, Edwinsford, Wales._

He looked up from the piece of parchment as he felt the magic of the Fidelius Charm settle over him, his uneasiness at being there disappearing. On the wall to his right was a large blue-gray banner that featured the coat of arms for the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter: a black dragon with wings spread set behind a shield that featured a witch and wizard back to back with wands drawn fighting the darkness that was at the edges of the shield set above a scroll that read in Welsh, "Cryfder mewn Teulu, Honor mewn Bywyd" (Strength in Family, Honor in Life), and the chandelier hanging from the high ceiling bathed the whole entry hall in a warm, flickering light. Dastan was tempted to explore the rest of the house to find where Bella and Harry had apparated to with his eldest but that thought was interrupted as the house-elf spoke in a gentle tone, "Missus Bella said that you can use the floo to contact your home, sir. The Missus and Young Master will be down in a moment. For someone to comes through, they need to say the phrase on the family crest."

As she finished saying that, the house-elf disapparated with a _crack_ , leaving Dastan alone in the foyer of the home. Dastan took a deep breath and let it out in a single sigh as he moved over to the fireplace, which had a small fire crackling merrily in it, grabbed a pinch of floo powder from the jar on the mantle, and said in a clear voice as he tossed the powder into the fireplace, "Delacour Chateau."

The fire in the fireplace at the Delacour Chateau turned emerald green, causing Apolline to flinch for a moment before she turned to face the fireplace to see her husband and mate's disembodied head sitting in the midst of the green flames. Relief flooded through her as she rushed over to the fireplace and knelt down, her eyes looking at her husband's head and spoke to him in their native tongue, _"My love, you have no idea how happy I am to see you alive and safe. We heard that the Dark Mark was seen after we fled. Do you have any news of Fleur? We got separated while we were running for the portkey."_

Dastan looked up at his wife with love and adoration in his eyes and said, _"Fleur is safe, now. She had been attacked by a group of men who intended to rape and murder her, but she was saved by a young man. I am in the home of his family right now. I need you here as soon as you can, my love."_

Apolline gasped, _"You mean a life debt has been formed?"_

Dastan's grave look was enough of an answer for her, _"I fear it may be so, but I still need to confirm it. Bella said that you would be allowed through the floo. Come as quickly as you can, love, our daughter will need you. I need you to read this piece of parchment so that you can know the floo address. The phrase to get through is:_ Cryfder mewn Teulu, Honor mewn Bywyd. _Hurry, my love."_

Apolline nodded as she took the piece of parchment from her husband's disembodied hand, _"I will. Let me contact my mother, Angelique. As soon as she is here to take care of Gabby, I will be there."_

Dastan nodded and withdrew his head and arm from the fireplace just as he heard the clicking of boot heels on the hardwood floor approaching him. He turned and was greeted by the sight of Bellatrix Potter standing in the middle of the entry way with an unreadable look on her face as those violet eyes seemed to cut right through him, "So, would like to tell me why you were so bloody insistent that we get here as fast as possible and what it has to do with my son?"

He looked at her and said, "How is Fleur?"

Bella gestured for Dastan to follow her as she turned around and made her way deeper into the house. As Dastan followed her, he noticed that the entire house seemed to have the same warmth as the foyer that they just left. He also noticed numerous pictures hanging on the walls. He was sure they were pictures from Harry's childhood, as a good number of them featured the now fourteen-year-old young man, some with just him, others with a variety of other children: one older, a few seemed to be the same age as the young man, and a couple were most obviously younger than Harry was in the pictures. Dastan also noticed a variety of adults in the pictures with Harry, many of them featured Bella and/or Sirius, a redhead he recognized as Amelia Bones-Black, current head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement as well as being the wife of Sirius Black, some featured a woman with long blonde hair, others a woman who looked strikingly similar to Bella but with warm brown eyes instead of violet, and a couple must have been salvaged from the Potter's home in Godric's Hollow because they featured James and Lily Potter holding baby Harry. The one thing that all of the pictures had in common was that they showed how much this large and unlikely family loved and cared for each other.

Dastan had been so absorbed in the pictures on the walls that he didn't even notice that they had ascended the grand staircase that swept upwards from the first floor to the second in a wide arc to the second floor which seemed to radiate outward from the staircase and was segregated into four main hallways. He followed Bella down one of the wings as she said, "This is the North Wing. You and your family can stay here while your daughter is recovering and you can tell me what the bloody hell has you so tense. Also Harry's room is in this wing."

He looked at her and said in a defeated tone, "Let me see that my daughter is fine first, then I will answer your questions, oui?"

Bella gave him a hard look that told him that the witch wouldn't be satisfied until her questions were answered, "Fine. She's in here."

She said the last part as she opened the door that they had stopped in front of, revealing a large bedroom complete with a four-poster bed, book cases that seemed to be built in to the right hand wall and stretched from the front corner to the back corner, and two doors on the opposite wall from the book cases that flanked the waist high dresser and vanity set. The room itself was in keeping with the overall warm motif of the house at large with walls and ceiling painted in a light tan color that set of the antique furniture and hardwood flooring in the room quite well, a high ceiling featured a silver chandelier that seemed to be electric complete with lightbulbs, and a candelabra standing on the nightstand to the left side of the bed. The only breaks he saw with the style of the house were the green and silver comforter and the green banner that hung above the fireplace and featured a silver serpent that looked remarkably like a basilisk in the shape of an "S" in the center as well as a large serpentine skull with a fierce looking set of teeth adorning the mouth that was open enough to where the top of the skull could act as a side table set in an alcove with a what appeared to be a plush high-backed chair resting to either side of the skull. The alcove was a decent-sized sitting room that was arranged on the opposite side of the bed from the side with the two doors and actually allowed the book cases to extend out into the room. He saw that the sitting area had three set's of curtains hanging in it, one on each of the walls, he assumed that they were hiding more windows.

Lying on the bed was Fleur, still unconscious with her arms still wrapped around the neck of a now equally unconscious Harry, but instead of their tattered clothes that they had come here with, both seemed to be dressed in modest night clothes and were tucked under the blankets with a rather motherly woman standing to the left of the bed, her wand out and a bag that looked remarkably like a muggle doctor's travel bag open on the night stand next to her. The woman stood a few inches shy of six feet with dark brown hair that was shot through with streaks of gray, hazel eyes were focused on her task at hand, stern features that had been weathered by age, and a body that had once been remarkable had been claimed by age and loose clothing to become slightly larger than it had been previously.

Dastan hadn't even realized that Bella had followed him into the room until she spoke from behind him, the door closing softly as she inquired, "Poppy, how is she?"

Poppy Pomfrey answered in a matter-of-fact tone, "You mean besides the aftereffects of repeated application of the Cruciatus curse? No other serious injuries but she will more than likely still be fairly weak when she wakes due to the trauma she suffered. Harry did great getting to her when he did or else she could have been in much worse condition. I vanished my strongest Dreamless Sleep Potion into her so that she will sleep until tomorrow afternoon. That's how long I expect it to take for the effects of her injuries to take to wear off. Other than that, there is nothing I can do except say that she is to minimize her time out of bed tomorrow. The most she should be allowed to do tomorrow is shower and join the family for meals. Then the day after tomorrow she should be okay to move around largely on her own. During those two days, she is to use very little magic, preferably none."

Dastan answered, some of his stress melting away as he heard the matron speak, as he moved forward towards where his daughter was lying on the bed, her arms wrapped around Harry's neck and her head resting on his chest with the rest of her body pressed against his side, if the single lump under the blanket was to be believed, "Thank you for caring for my daughter. I am relieved to hear that she will make a fast recovery."

Poppy nodded to the man and then turned her attention to Bella, "Harry will be okay, Bella. He only has a few bruised ribs and some cuts and scrapes. All rather minor injuries for what normally befalls your son at school. I also gave him a Dreamless Sleep Potion so that he would sleep, not that he really needed it, as tired as he was, but he and I felt it was the safer bet with how the girl seems to refuse to let go of him."

Poppy gave the man who had entered the room with Bella a hard look and almost moved to block him as he made his way to her patients' bedside but stopped as she saw Bella give her a small shake of the head to tell Poppy not to interfere. Dastan didn't notice as he approached the sleeping teens and drew his wand. He used the spell that he had been taught by Apolline when she had found out that she was pregnant with a girl, knowing that any girl born to a Veela would be a full Veela. The spell was a variation of the typical medical diagnostic spell, but this one was focused on the target's magic and would reveal any magical bonds that had been formed between the target and anyone or anything else. Dastan was hoping against hope as the aura that showed Fleur's magical bonds showed him that she was his daughter, the aura matching the color of his own magic briefly before changing to match the color of his wife's magic briefly before changing a second time to a dull gold in color that then encompassed Harry completely. He felt his heart sink as he saw the golden aura settle around Fleur and Harry and pulse a few times before he canceled the spell. There it was, confirmation that his daughter indeed owed a life debt to the boy she was sharing a bed with at the moment. The weight of the knowledge came crashing down on him and almost caused him to collapse to the ground as Atlas had when he'd been forced to hold up the sky in Greek mythology.

Bella had watched Dastan cast what was obviously a form of diagnostic spell on his daughter. Her keen eyes were focused on Dastan's body language and facial expressions as she leaned against the wall opposite the bed, her arms folded across her chest. She had watched the colors of the aura around the girl start out a brilliant white and remembered that the color of Dastan's shield charms were always white, then had changed to what she would describe as lilac in color before changing to become a dull gold in color and surround her son. Bella would have missed the crestfallen expression that flitted across Dastan's face for the briefest of moments before he schooled his expression like the Master Auror that he had been during the last war, but the pain that had accompanied the expression was still there in his eyes as he turned away from the sleeping teens after placing a gentle kiss on his daughter's forehead. Bella had seen the look in his eyes a thousand times before, hell half of those times where when she looked into the mirror after coming back from a particularly difficult assignment…

* * *

 **A Little While Later**

 **A Discussion About Veela**

Dastan now found himself in a comfortable sitting room, sitting in one of the antique chairs that was situated a comfortable distance from the large fireplace that dominated one part of the room with a rose colored marble mantle and matching sidings that were shaped in the form of the ancient roman pillars, a side table sat between his chair and its twin that was occupied by Bella, his wife, who had arrived as he and Bella had descended from the guest wing, was sitting nearby on the sofa, her presence providing an immeasurable amount of support to him as he not only felt her closeness, but sensed her love through the mate bond that they shared. The far wall of the room featured windows that stood from the floor to the ceiling and flanked a pair of glass French doors that opened onto a covered patio that looked over a large portion of the property associated with the house as well as the valley below, a set of book cases filled with books and tomes of all types occupied one wall and the other featured the double doors that led into the room from the hallway just outside, again the ever-present candelabras were present in strategic locations around the room, but the focal point of the room was the large wizarding family portrait that hung on the wall above the fireplace.

Resting on the side table between Dastan and Bella was a bottle of Wyvern's Reserve Blue Label, a brand of firewhiskey that was widely regarded as the best firewhiskey brand to come out of the British Isles with a pair of tumblers that were each half full of the amber liquid. Apolline had a cup of tea sitting on the side table next to where she was sitting on the couch as she had never been one for the stronger liquors, but knew that her husband occasionally needed something stronger than wine or champagne with the jobs that both previously held and currently hold at the French Ministry of Magic. The silence had been building for the last several minutes was broken as Bella spoke in a cold tone that told the other occupants of the room that she would accept nothing less than the truth, "So, Delacour, are you going to tell me what the bloody hell was that golden aura around your daughter that had you so concerned, not to mention what it has to do with my son?"

Just then the door to the sitting room opened to admit one Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, both who had just arrived after making sure that their own immediate families were safe at home. Both men moved over to where the other three were and conjured chairs to sit in, Sirius summoning the bottle of firewhiskey as soon as he sat down while Remus silently conjured two additional tumblers, into which Sirius poured the fiery amber liquor. After the bottle had been returned to its previous perch via reverse summoning charm, Dastan picked up his tumbler and emptied it in a single gulp, allowing the fiery liquid to scald the insides of his mouth as he exhaled a little bit of smoke before swallowing, feeling the whiskey burn a path from his mouth all the way down to his stomach. When he had poured himself a second half tumbler of the amber liquid and returned the bottle to its place on the side table he spoke, "All of you are aware that my wife is Veela, correct?"

Sirius spoke for Bella and Remus when he said, "Yes, we are aware. Even now, I find it difficult to keep my attention off of her."

Dastan asked a second question, hoping that Bella would hold her temper for a while longer, "Are you aware of the other aspects of their magic?"

Remus answered this time, "Do you mean how they are creatures of fire and air? How magic involving either or both of those elements come naturally to them to the point where they can cast said magic wandlessly? Or do you mean how their magic interacts with magical bonds?"

Dastan nodded, his voice small, "Yes," he paused to take another sip from his tumbler before asking another question, "Bella, does Harry have a girl that he is interested in at Hogwarts or here?"

Bella frowned as she thought about the question for a moment, really starting to not like the direction this conversation was going. She recalled how Harry had had a crush on the seeker for the Ravenclaw house team at school last year until he had asked her out and found out that she actually liked Harry's best friend, Hermione Granger, a muggleborn witch that had been sorted into Ravenclaw and was in Harry's year, but didn't know how. She recalled how Harry had swallowed his hurt feelings and helped the girl, Cho Chang get with Hermione. As it turned out, Hermione had had a crush on Cho, but was afraid of acting on it since she knew that Harry had liked her as well, and now the two of them were visiting Spain with Hermione's parents and were very happy together, which had made Harry happy for his friends in the end, as Cho had become part of Harry's little group at school. Bella quickly ran through the list of girls that she knew her son had mentioned at one point or another, but most of them fell completely under the 'friend' title and the rest fell under the 'have no intention of getting to know them even if they were the last woman on earth' title. She shook her head, "No, Harry hasn't mentioned being interested in any girls. I don't see what this has to do with how Veela magic interacts with magical bonds."

Dastan heaved a sigh before tossing back the rest of his tumbler, he would need the courage that he hoped the liquor would provide, "Veela magic is very peculiar in how it interacts with magical bonds. For example, marriage, a Veela's magic will not accept the typical magical binding that occurs during wizarding weddings unless the Veela has taken their partner to mate within a solar cycle. In other words, if the marriage is not consummated within one day of the vows being exchanged, the Veela's magic will cause a magical divorce, separating the Veela and their partner in the eyes of magic and as you know, our laws accept magic's decrees as gospel. In other words, their magic will declare their partner unworthy and force the separation. I know several Veela who have made use of this loophole to get away from abusive partners.

"Another way it interacts with magical bonds, is in the way that the gene is passed on through the generations. Female children born to a Veela will always be full-blooded Veela, whilst male children born to Veela will simply carry the gene and have a small possibility to have a natural affinity to fire and air spells as well as wandless magic, but if they have a female child, then she will be half-Veela."

Dastan paused to take a gulp of the firewhiskey before continuing, as he knew that he was about to drop the proverbial atomic bomb, "Well, another way that Veela magic is peculiar is in the way it interacts with life debts. If, and that is a big if for the reasons I am about to give, a Veela comes to owe someone a life debt, then the debt must be satisfied within one lunar cycle. In other words, the Veela has one month to satisfy the life debt or else their magic is stripped from them and as you all know, a Veela cannot survive without her magic. Now there are two ways to satis-"

Bella cut him off, her voice inquisitive, "Wait, are you saying that Fleur owes Harry a life debt?"

Dastan nodded, "Yes, that's what the golden glow signified. Usually the glow is silver in color, but the color doesn't matter at this point."

Bella nodded, "So how did this happen? How does a Veela life debt form?"

Dastan heaved a sigh and looked to his wife, speaking to her through their mate bond, _do you want to tell them or do you want me to do it?_

He watched as Apolline spoke, "We can fall under a life debt only if certain conditions exist. One is that the person saving us from a life threatening situation has to have no prior knowledge of us. Meaning, they cannot know us before they save our life. The second is that the person saving us cannot be doing it for selfish reasons, which means that if Harry had saved Fleur so that he could have his way with her, the debt would have been void. The third condition is that the Veela cannot be bound to another. This means that if Fleur had already chosen a mate, a life debt would not have been formed, whether she and her chosen had married or not."

Sirius frowned, "Okay, that tells us how a life debt is formed, but how do we satisfy it and why do you and your husband look like you just found out that your dog ate your cat?"

Dastan closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and looking directly at Bella as he spoke again, "There are three ways for the Veela to satisfy the life debt: the first is if Fleur saves Harry's life within a month and it has to be as honest and selfless an act as when their life was saved, the second is that if Harry ignores the debt, the Veela's magic will call the debt due at the end of the same time frame and Fleur's magic will be stripped from her, and because a Veela cannot live without their magic, it would result in our daughter's death."

Bella was dumbstruck, if what she was hearing was true then Fleur would have to save her son's life within a month or die. That wouldn't sit well with Harry. He always wanted everyone to have a chance at life, after all because of his birth mother's love he was given a chance at having a full life, dark lord's followers be damned, and finding out that he had saved Fleur's life just to have her die because there wasn't a possible way for her to save his life in the same spirit as he had hers within a month would kill him, hell it pained her just to think about it. There had to be another way that both could live, preferably without a life-threatening situation occurring, since that seemed to happen to her son while he was at school plenty. As her mind raced for anything, Bella remembered Dastan's question from the beginning of the conversation, and then it hit her: the third way to satisfy the debt was through marriage. Why else would Dastan ask about girls that Harry was interested in? Because if Harry was interested in a girl other than Fleur he would have to break off whatever relationship that was. She spoke, her voice soft and disbelieving, "Marriage?"

Dastan looked her in the eyes, and in that moment, Bella saw how truly aged he was by the enormity of the situation, "Yes, Bella, Harry would have to take Fleur's hand in marriage and they would have to consummate their union."

Bella chuckled, "Well, at least now I have a good reason for continuing to turn down the marriage contract proposals from the Weasley Matriarch."

Sirius barked out a laugh, "That will likely send her blood pressure through the roof. Poor Arthur, having to deal with that bloated banshee."

Remus spoke up then, his own Marauder's grin showing now, "Let's not forget the banshee-in-training, Ginny. She will be insufferable when this news gets out."

Dastan spoke, "Which is why we must keep this as quiet as possible."

Sirius spoke, "Well seems like I will get to plan Harry's bachelor party after all."

Dastan frowned at Sirius, "That's not necessarily the case. Harry hasn't agreed to it yet," he paused to look at Bella and asked the question that had been burning in him since he saw the devastation wrought in the forest, "Bella, what kind of man is your son?"

* * *

 **A/N: Let me know what you think.**


	4. Characters and Pensieves, Part 1

**A/N: So, here we go with the third actual chapter. Everyone has been clamoring for flashbacks to show how Harry's years at Hogwarts have been different with him growing up under the influence of two of the surviving Marauders and in a loving home, so I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone and answer the question at the end of the last chapter as well as give the people what the want.**

 **Nope, still not lucky enough to own the rights to anything Harry Potter save what is written in this story.**

 **As always, read and enjoy.**

* * *

 **The Question of Character and Pensieve Memories, Part I**

* * *

Bella stared unseeing into the flames dancing in the fireplace as she debated how best to answer Dastan's question as to what kind of man her son was. She knew why he was asking the question, he and Apolline wanted to make sure that Harry wouldn't take advantage of their daughter, nor did they want their daughter to be saved by someone who was uncaring enough to let her die needlessly. As she went back and forth in her own mind on how best to describe the kind of man her son was, her mind flitting through all of the times that he had shown his charac- wait a tic, memories. Bella smiled unconsciously as she came to the decision on how best to demonstrate her son's character: She would use the pensieve and some memories from Harry to show them the kind of person he was. In fact, they already had some of Harry's memories in a pensieve already, she would only need it brought to her. She had had Harry start putting his memories of certain events throughout the school year in a pensieve so that the two of them after he returned home for the summer. They had started that after the incident with Professor Quirrell and the Philosopher's Stone in his first year. Since then, Bella had started to use Harry's own memories as training tools to teach Harry about his past mistakes so that he wouldn't repeat them, and it had worked wonders. She spoke, "Misty."

The motherly house-elf appeared before her mistress with a _crack_ , "Missus Bella called for me."

Bella nodded to the house-elf, "Misty, can you bring me Harry's pensieve out of his room without disturbing him and Miss Delacour?"

Misty nodded and disappeared with an audible _crack_. Dastan and Apolline shared a confused look, clearly not understanding the reason for the request. Dastan inquired after a moment's pause, "How will a pensieve show us what kind of man your son is?"

Bella smiled at him but it was Sirius who answered, "She has been having him place his memories from the entire school year in his pensieve on his first day home starting all the way back from his first year at Hogwarts. We have been using the memories in the pensieve to show him where he had made mistakes in his interactions with others and how to improve himself by not repeating his mistakes. The memories in the pensieve are Harry's, so what better way to get to know Harry than to live through his own memories?"

Dastan and Apolline shared a look, both suddenly understanding the reason for the pensieve just as the door opened to admit Misty who had a levitating stone bowl with runes engraved around the outer lip and a wispy silver liquid inside the bowl in front of her. The house-elf guided the bowl over to the side table between her mistress and Mister Delacour and let it come to rest gently, all without disturbing the liquid within the bowl. Misty then looked at her mistress, "Will Missus be needing me anymore tonight?"

Bella shook her head, "No, I don't think so Misty, have a good night."

Misty bowed and disappeared with a _crack_. Bella pulled out her wand and started stirring the contents of the bowl, focusing on key memories from Harry's first year, starting with the train ride to Hogwarts, and said after a few moments of stirring, "We will be starting with memories from Harry's first year at Hogwarts beginning with the train ride from London to Hogsmeade. Obviously we won't be going through every waking moment of his first year, just some key events."

She paused for a moment, "Before we begin, I need you to realize that normally I would never share these memories with anyone because both my son and myself are very private people, but I feel it is necessary for you to understand who my son is. That being said, I need a magical oath from both of you that you will not reveal what you see to anyone."

Dastan frowned at that, but it was Apolline who asked the question, "What about our daughter, Fleur?"

Bella pursed her lips and shook her head, "No. She has to discover who Harry is on her own. Maybe Harry will show her using the pensieve, maybe not, but they should be allowed to grow together and develop on their own."

Dastan and Apolline glanced at each other, both concerned as Dastan asked the question, "Do you really want to leave it to chance that they will get along?"

Bella gave them a hard look, one that had cowed many a Death Eater into confessing, while still idly stirring the pensieve, "Do I have your oath or not?"

Both Dastan and Apolline drew their wands and swore a magical oath, swearing that they would not reveal what they would see in the pensieve to anyone, not even Fleur.

With that, Bella withdrew her wand from the bowl and invited Apolline over. When she had joined Dastan and herself, Bella said, "Ready?"

Both nodded to her and all three leaned forward and were pulled into the pensieve…

* * *

 **Pensieve Memory: First Year**

 **Hogwarts Express**

The three visitors watched as four kids climbed on board the train, waiving good bye to their very large family, and made their way to an empty compartment. Once they had found a compartment, the two boys helped the older girl get everyone's school trunk up into the overhead racks before they all settled in for the ride. Bella spoke, "The older girl is my niece, Nymphodora Tonks, she was a seventh year Hufflepuff at the time. The blonde is my nephew Draco Malfoy."

Dastan growled, "Malfoy, as in the son of Lucius Malfoy?"

Bella nodded, "Yes, but since the failed attack on the Longbottoms, at whose home he was captured a month after Voldermort was defeated, tried and executed via a one way trip through the veil, he hasn't had a hand in the raising of his son and Draco has turned out to be an excellent young wizard, hence his closeness with Harry."

Dastan nodded, as if the answer satisfied his possible misgivings about Harry's cousin and apparently closest friend. Bella continued with her introduction of the original foursome, "The redhead is Susan Bones, niece of Amelia Bones-Black and her husband Sirius, my cousin."

As they continued to watch the four children sit and talk animatedly about the upcoming sorting and the school year as the train left out of King's Cross Station until at one point the door to their compartment slid open to admit a bushy haired brunette witch who looked to be around the same age as Harry, Susan, and Draco and was dragging her trunk behind her. She looked at the four occupents of the compartment and asked in a weak voice, "Do you have any room? These mean boys have chased me out of every compartment saying that a mudblood shouldn't be allowed to sully the halls of Hogwarts."

Dastan watched as Harry's fist clenched hard enough for his arm to start trembling when he heard what someone had done to the girl and they weren't even an hour into the train ride to Hogwarts. He looked at the girl, whose brown eyes were on the verge of tears, "You can stay with us. My name's Harry Potter," then gestured to the others in the compartment while continuing the introductions, "The blonde git is Draco Malfoy, the redhead is Susan Bones, and old pinky over there is Nymphodora Tonks. They're my cousins so you'll be safe with us."

The introductions of his cousins had been a bit playful, the git comment earning a slug on the arm from Draco and a huffed "Oi" from the oldest person in the compartment, but everyone had a smile on their face as they brought the bushy haired girl into the compartment with Harry and Draco putting her trunk up on the cargo rack over their heads and the girl sitting down next to Draco. She was quiet for a moment before she spoke, "My name is Hermione Granger," she paused as if waiting for a comment before continuing, "and I'm a mud-"

Harry cut her off with steel in his voice, "Don't say that word. You are a muggle-born witch with just as much right as any of us to a magical education at Hogwarts. That other word is used by stupid blood purists who think that purity of blood is the measure of a person's worth in our society. No one in this compartment believes that. All of us were raised to believe that the worth of a person is determined by their contributions to society, not the purity of their blood. If anyone says that to you, come find one of us and we will help you."

They watched as Hermione looked around in wonder at three nodding heads, showing that the rest agreed with what Harry said. The observers could see the unshed tears threatening to spill as she launched herself at Harry and wrapped her arms around him in a bone-crushing hug, the tears finally spilling over as relief flooded through the little bushy haired girl at finally finding people who treated her as a person instead of as some awful curse word. They watched as Harry awkwardly patted her on the back, telling her that it was okay. The hug lasted until the door to the compartment slid open with a loud _crack_ followed by a voice full of disdain, "So this is where the mudblood bookworm ended up. Potter, you shouldn't soil your family by associating with some filthy mudblood. Didn't your mommy's death teach you that mudbloods belong in the grave or at worst, under our boot heel, since they obviously stole their magic from purebloods?"

Harry disentangled himself from Hermione, stood, and moved between the new arrival and where Hermione sat next to Nym, his voice ice as he barely restrained his anger, "Sod off Nott. You are not welcome here and take your goons with you."

Nott, a tall boy for his age had a slim build that looked as if he didn't care for physical exertion, watery brown eyes, black hair that looked intentionally wild, and features that while neither remarkable nor disgusting, clearly showed his pride of his pureblood status and his arrogance as he sneered at Harry, "I don't think you have that correct, Potter. It's the mudblood who isn't welcome. We should just toss her and all her kind off of the train right now."

His "goons" were easily recognizable to Dastan as the sons of Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, two known Death Eaters who had claimed to be under the Imperious Curse and forced to perform the foul deeds that they had done as well as been forced to take the dark mark. The apple didn't fall far from the tree as both children looked exactly like their respective fathers: of medium height, broad frames thick with muscle that more belonged to a professional bouncer, dark hair cut short, beady eyes that were void of a spark of intelligence, and fists as large as ham hocks.

Dastan was only able to notice the subtle flick of Harry's right wrist and the slow curling of his fingers around his wand because of his years of training and experience as an auror. He watched in wonder as Harry spoke again, "Try it and there will be hell to pay. Remember, Nott, what my mum did to your dad and why you have to beg for table scraps from the Parkinsons, who from what I heard almost turned down the marriage contract proposal that your precious Death Eater offered," then turning his head slightly to his left where his cousin was standing behind him, his own wand drawn and ready in a similar manner while never taking his eyes off of Nott, spoke to his cousin, "Draco, what was it that Pansy said to your betrothed about the contract with the Nott family? Something along the lines that her daddy did a great job of practically indenturing the Nott family for the next several generations, wasn't it?"

Draco gave his cousin the Marauder's grin while similarly having his eyes focused on Nott and nodded, "Something along those lines. Though, now that I think about it, Daphne did mention that Pansy told her, very happily I might add, that in order to pay the bride price for their only daughter, Nott Senior had to give up almost all of his shares in the companies, both wizarding and muggle, in lieu of the gold that he didn't have, thanks to having to continuously buying his way out of Azkaban."

Dastan and the others watched as Nott's face went from pale white to a tomato red with fury at what supposedly was a secret was revealed and before the audience that seemed to be growing in the corridor of the train. They watched as Harry gave Nott one more apprising look before turning away from his enemy, "Come Draco, the Scion of the Noble House of Nott is not worth our time or consideration."

Nott seemed like he couldn't take it anymore as he went for his wand only to have a drawling voice stop him cold, "Mister Nott, what is the meaning of this?"

Even the observers jumped as they hadn't noticed the approach of the man who wore a black traveling cloak over a steel gray shirt, black slacks, and matching boots. The man stood a little over six feet tall with a slender frame that was taut with the lean muscle of a fighter, chin length black hair parted down the middle and combed to be out of the man's face that had stern features with a hooked nose and thin lips, but the most disturbing of all was the beetle-black eyes that held a glimmer of cunning intelligence and seemed to be able to see right through a person. Right now, those features were fixed in a sneer that intimidated even the most stout of heart as he spoke again, his voice rasping, "I ask again: Mister Nott, what is the meaning of you terrorizing a fellow first year and causing a scene that is unbecoming of a student that hasn't even set foot within the school yet?"

Nott looked at the professor and let his anger go as a flicker of recognition crossed through the brown eyes, "Professor, they started it. I was coming to talk to the muggle-born witch to welcome her to our world and they wouldn't let me speak to her, saying all kinds of nasty things about my father. My family honor was at stake."

They watched as the professor's eyes flickered over to the students in the compartment, instantly taking in the fact that four of the five students had their wands drawn already. Dastan couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw a minute smile flicker across the professor's features for a moment before he schooled them and asked in an almost bored tone, "Mister Potter, is this true that young Mister Nott was coming to only talk to the young witch who you seem to be defending and you were keeping him from talking to her?"

Harry shook his head, "Yes, Professor Snape, it is true that we prevented Mister Nott from speaking with Miss Granger, but only after she had shown up at our compartment on the verge of tears after having been terrorized by Mister Nott for the first hour of the train ride. He also called her that foul name for muggle-born and said that we would be better off if we, how did he phrase it, 'We should just toss her and all her kind off of the train right now.'"

The observers watched as anger flashed across Snape's features, turning his sneer almost violent as rage burned in the man's eyes, his voice was tight as he spoke, "Is that so, Mister Nott? I warn you now, do not lie to me."

They watched as all of the color drained from Nott's face as he began trembling like a leaf on a tree in a strong North wind. The silence was allowed to drag on for a few more seconds as Snape kept his piercing gaze firmly on the young Mister Nott. Snape finally spoke, "Very well, I will take your silence as confirmation that you indeed were performing as young Mister Potter described. When we reach the castle, your behavior will be brought up to the headmaster and he and whoever your head of house ends up being will decide your fate. Now leave and don't let me hear of you bothering any other student for the rest of the train ride."

Nott and his goon squad could not leave fast enough to get away from the enraged professor and the embarrassing debacle. Snape turned his attention to Harry and the rest of the Potter/Black children, a rare and small smile lighting up his features, "Well done Harry, using your mind and not your fists to turn the tables on that prat of a Death Eater's spawn. Watch your back, though. He will not rest until he has his revenge on all of you."

Harry nodded, "We will, Forktounge."

The memory swirled and changed as time passed swiftly in the pensieve...

* * *

 **The Sorting**

The observers were now standing in the entrance hall of Hogwarts with a stern-looking, middle-aged Scottish witch whose auburn hair was pulled up into a tight bun at the back of her head, her hazel eyes critical of the group of first year children in front of her. They watched as her eyes swept the crowd of anxious and eager faces in silence for a moment before she spoke, her Scottish brogue giving her speech an almost sing-song quality, "I am Minerva McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistriss of Hogwarts and the Head of House for House Gryffindor. All of you first years are about to be sorted into one of the four houses tha exist here at Hogwarts, eached named after one of the four founders: Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin. While you are here, your house will be your family. Everything that you do well will earn your house points in competition for the annual House Cup, every bad thing you say or do will lose points for your house. Each house prizes different things in its students and the sorting hat will tell you where you will fit in and do well."

With that, the memory fast forwarded to now the first year students were standing in the center of the great hall, the enchanted ceiling overhead showing it to be a clear night with thousands of stars shining bright and a crescent moon rising. About half of the first years had been sorted and had joined the rest of the students from their respective houses at their tables. Harry was standing between his cousin Draco, his friend Hermione, and another pair of boys, one of whom Harry knew to be Neville Longbottom, a childhood friend of the group of cousins, the other had the flaming red hair and freckles along with the blue eyes that pronounced him to be from the Weasley family even without the boy's short introduction of "Ron Weasley".

Harry would have responded to that greeting, but his attention was grabbed as Professor McGonagall called out in a clear voice, "Hermione Granger."

Harry whispered good luck to Hermione as she slowly made her way forward to where the professor was standing with the Sorting Hat in her hand, turned around, and sat down on the stool. Professor McGonagall then placed the Sorting Hat on her head, where it sat for a few moments before shouting out, "Ravenclaw!"

Harry noticed that Hermione looked rather pleased with the result as she almost rushed to her table with the Sorting Hat still on her head, but fortunately for her, Professor McGonagall deftly plucked the old hat off of her head before she got more than two steps away from the stool. The observers then watched as a few more of the first year students were sorted in their respective houses including Neville being sorted into Hufflepuff before Professor McGonagall announced, "Draco Malfoy."

Harry exchanged a quick Marauder's grin with his cousin as the blonde boy walked up to the stool and sat down. Professor McGonagall lowered the hat onto the boy's head, where it sat for a few moments before calling out, "Slytherin!"

Draco grinned as he removed the hat from his head, handed it back to Professor McGonagall, and made his way to the Slytherin table, which sat as the far right table in the hall to scattered applause. The next first year was called in short order, "Theodore Nott."

Nott shoved his way forward and strode towards the stool with a pompous air about him, as if he already knew what the result of the sorting would be. He sat down on the stool with a bored expression as Professor McGonagall lowered the hat towards his head, but before the hat even touched his head, it called out, "Slytherin!"

Dastan frowned at that announcement. Putting someone like that into the notorious den of snakes would only serve to strengthen the blood purist movement existing in that house, or so it would seem, but he noticed that not everyone in the house of snakes was excited by the addition of the young scion. He and the others watched as the memory fast forward through a few more first years until Professor McGonagall's voice rang out, "Harry Potter."

In an instant you could hear a pin drop. The eyes of every student and teacher were locked onto the young man with the mop of unruly black hair and the most expressive emerald green eyes that they had ever seen. They watched as there was no hesitation from Harry as he purposefully strode the length of the great hall, faced the vast majority of his audience and awaited for the Sorting Hat to be placed on his head. When it did, the outside observers noticed how everything else fell silent as the Sorting Hat spoke in Harry's head, which the observers were privy to, this being Harry's memory and all, _"Ah, Mister Potter. I've been expecting you for some time."_

Harry thought, _"Y..you have?"_

The hat answered, _"Oh yes, I've been waiting for you since I sorted your parents all those years ago. I saw in them the possibility for greatness, and great they became, thrice defying Tom Riddle and his followers before the rat betrayed them for table scraps that Tom tossed to him and called it "power". Now as I look inside your head I see a thirst to prove that you are not "The-Boy-Who-Lived", but yourself, one Harry James Potter, orphaned at the tender age of fifteen months, raised by the most feared auror in a century in a home and family full of love. You want to show everyone who you are and what you can do. I see that you have your parent's courage, but without the arrogance and recklessness of your father or the temper of your mother. Your courage is enough that I would consider Gryffindor for you, where you could cultivate that courage and turn it into a sword to swing on the field of battle, but are not all battles won before they are fought. The brave do not think so, they believe that a battle is decided by strength of arms, power in spells, but they miss the subtlety of warfare. The cunning find ways to weaken their enemies enough that when it comes time to face them in the inevitable open battle, they have already won, the enemy just doesn't know it yet. This is the true way of Slytherin, cunning coupled with ferocity, courage with patience. Yes, you have those traits in spades. You could become great, not in the way of Riddle or Dumbledore, but in your own right as your own man, and Slytherin could help. The house of snakes will force you to develop these traits as you overcome first the division within that house, followed by the division within the school, but, even the greatest leaders need followers loyal to them."_

Harry swallowed and asked the hat in his mind, _"What do you mean?"_

The Sorting Hat chuckled in his mind, _"First, you must overcome the foe which I have placed in the ranks of Slytherin. Show the house what you did on the train, show them that you can face this threat to you with the traits valued in the house of snakes. Show them that purity of blood means nothing. Show them that you are worthy to follow, and you will find an army of pit vipers ready to poison your enemies at your slightest whim, but be warned: this road is fraught with peril as it could lead you to become an even bigger threat than Riddle. Rely on your family and friends, some you haven't even made yet, to keep you on the path of righteousness, and your time will come. The darkness is coming again, Riddle will rise again. To be ready, you must unite the house of snakes behind your banner, and you must win enough support in the other houses to win them over. So what do you say: shall it be the easy road of the warrior, all courage and no cunning, that you would have in the House of Gryffindor, or will you choose the path of the assassin who only strikes when and where it suits him, using the traits of the house of snakes, cunning with ferocity, courage with patience, and follow the more difficult path to become the man you were born to be with Slytherin?"_

The observers heard Harry's thought process as he examined all of what the Sorting Hat had said to him. As he considered the hat's words, Harry realized that he had never been one for the quick and easy route so he told the hat, _"Slytherin."_

The hat said nothing more to him but echoed his word in a shout that shook the great hall, "SLYTHERIN!"

* * *

 **A/N: So here we are with the first of what is planned to be a couple of chapters of the requested flashback to show how Harry's first three years at Hogwarts were different. The next will be the remainder of first year, including the befriending of Ron Weasley and Hermione, and there may or may not be a visit from a very famous troll. Hope you enjoyed, and as always let me know what you think.**


	5. Characters and Pensieves, Part 2

**A/N: So some concerns were voiced over the use of Harry's pensieve being used without his knowledge or permission. I agree that Harry and Bella are normally very private people, but in the situation that they are in makes the use of the pensieve necessary. That is the reason why I added a little tidbit to the last chapter that would make Bella a little more comfortable sharing her son's memories with people she hadn't had regular interactions with since the end of the first blood war. The little sister is coming soon, I promise, so please don't hurt me.**

 **Also, to all of the ones who don't like my story: why are you continuing to read it if only to tell me how bad my writing is? My simple rule on this site is and has always been that if I don't like a story, I don't continue reading it, period, end of discussion. I can handle the occasional 'you suck' reviews, after all I see most of them as constructive and things to think about and look at, but if you start EVERY one of your reviews by telling me how much you don't like what I am writing or that my writing sucks, then go find someone else's story that you can enjoy more than mine. I am writing the story I am because I enjoy writing first off, and secondly, I have received too many positive reviews to just give up on it. So again, if you do not like my story, STOP READING IT and go find someone else's to read. Thank you, and for those that do enjoy the story, my mini-rant is over.**

 **2/10/2017 - Repost with some minor changes.**

 **Wait a sec... Nope still don't own the rights to Harry Potter. Damn.**

 **As always, read and enjoy.**

* * *

 **Character Questions and Pensieve Memories, Part II**

* * *

 **Pensieve Memory: First Year**

 **The Halloween Troll**

From the end of the sorting, the memories seemed to flow by like the current of a fast moving river. Both Apolline and Dastan were able to grasp that Harry and his cousins and friends had found out that there was something hidden in the castle on the third floor in the eastern corridor, but had yet to discover what it could be. They also got the sense that Harry was making a very good impression within and outside of his house through the little things that he did like treating all of the older students with the same amount of respect, no matter what their house, race, creed, gender, or more importantly blood status. They had watched as Harry's core group grew, adding a second Hufflepuff by the name of Hannah Abbott, a childhood friend of Susan's, a second Gryffindor, the redhead from earlier, whose name was Ron Weasley, as well as the remainder of the Slytherin first years who didn't hang on Nott's every word. Those weren't the only friends that Harry had made, there were also a number of older Slytherins, chief among them a third year girl by the name of Diana Robertson from the Ancient and Noble House of Robertson and surprisingly, two Gryffindor third years who were twins and the older brothers of Ron by the names of Fred and George.

As time flowed past them, Dastan and Apolline got the distinct impression that a lot of the older students, not just those wearing green and silver, but from all houses were watching Harry's unlikely group of friends to see how things progressed. They watched as Harry continuously used his cunning and patience to outmaneuver the Nott Scion, often making him look bad in front of not just the teachers, but also the older members of the house of snakes. Finally, time seemed to normalize again and Bella, who had been silent as they watched the events of the first two months of Harry's first year roll by, spoke, "Now we come to another key event that happened during his first year, Halloween."

Dastan looked away from the mixed group of Slytherins who were sitting around Harry at the house table, enjoying breakfast on the morning of the thirty-first of October, and asked, "What happened?"

Bella smiled at him, "You'll just have to wait and see."

Following lunch, the group split up going to their respective classes, for Harry, Draco, Tracey Davis, Blaise Zabini, and the rest of the Slytherin first years it was Transfiguration with the Ravenclaw first years, which Harry and his group always looked forward to as it gave them the chance to spend time with their first friend amongst the Ravens, Hermione. As Harry and his friends settled into their usual places with Draco on Harry's left and Hermione on his right, Blaise behind him, Tracey in front, and Daphne sitting on Draco's other side, they heard Nott start up another round of verbal attacks on Harry, "So Potter, I figured you'd be wearing all black today in mourning. After all, it's not every day that one becomes an orphan, now is it? What happened, did you forget to pack your mourning clothes?"

Harry glanced in Nott's direction to see the boy and his small group of friends guffawing at his supposed barb. Dastan watched as Harry merely shrugged and said, "I got over mourning my parents a long time ago. After all, it's not every kid that gets a chance to be raised by the most feared auror of her generation. Now, why don't you stop talking before you hurt yourself?"

The observers watched as Nott turned beet red and turn away to search for an easier target. They saw the thin smile that came to his lips as his eyes rested on a Ravenclaw first year that was obviously of Indian descent. He spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear, "Honestly, first they let mudbloods into the school then they follow that up with allowing foreign-born trash and whores into the school. Say, Patil is it? Who did your mommy have to open her legs for so that you could attend this school? Why don't you go home and learn from her how to be a proper whore, after all, that is all you will be good at."

Two of the observers were appalled at the vulgar and blatantly bigoted behavior of the Nott boy and his group throughout the duration of the class as they constantly tormented the girl. They were shaken out of their thoughts by a voice with a thick Scottish brogue, "Mister Nott, that will be two hundred and fifty points from Slytherin for your atrocious behavior and unconscionable comments. You will also have detention for the rest of the school year with Misteer Filch or myself."

Nott, whether through his arrogance or just not using his brain, retorted, "Whatever. It's not like I will actually serve detention with a bloody squib and a blood traitor like yourself because as soon as I tell my father what you are trying to do to me, he will go to the board and have you fired for abuse of power. All I was doing was speaking the truth, Professor. You can't take points for that."

The class and the observers watched as Professor McGonagall turned crimson with barely contained rage as she bit out, "Class dismissed. Mister Nott, you will remain in your seat."

As soon as class let out, the Indian girl gathered her things and bolted from the classroom, tears streaming down her face and Hermione calling after her, "Padma! Padma, wait!"

The observers watched as the now identified Padma Patil continued to run from them, as if she hadn't heard Hermione calling for her. The girl's running seemed to get Pansy Parkinson's attention as she said in a loud voice, "Wonder if she is going to go pay her tuition," and then calling out loud enough for the retreating Ravenclaw to hear her, "Hey Patil, make sure you use protection so you don't get pregnant!"

Hermione whirled on Pansy, wand drawn and seemed to be ready to cast a curse in the pug-faced girl's direction when Daphne stepped forward and put her hand on Hermione's and said, "Don't waste your time. She tends to forget when she's among the general populace that she has to share a dorm with four other witches that do not care for her or her opinions."

At that comment Pansy paled a little, gave a little huff, and stormed off with Crabbe and Goyle following her as if she was Nott. Daphne looked Hermione in the eye, "Besides, we have something far more important to do right now."

Hermione nodded, "Find Padma."

With that the group of friends headed towards their separate common rooms to drop their bags and meet back up for the Halloween feast that would be held in place of the normal dinner. When the group met back up an hour and a half later, their Gryffindor and Hufflepuff friends included, all of them made for the part of the Slytherin table that was closer to the doors leading from the entry hall. As the group was sitting down, now joined by the Weasley twins and the older Slytherins who had mad friends with Harry and were becoming familiar with his friends and family. Harry turned to Hermione and asked, "Any luck?"

Hermione sighed and shook her head, "No. I checked the common room, our dorm room, the loo, and even the loos on the nearby hall ways, nothing."

Harry frowned as he reached for his goblet of pumpkin juice, but it was Draco who asked, "Where do you think she could have gone?"

Hermione said, "Don't know. Maybe she's in one of the other girls' loos in the school."

Ron had opened his mouth to say something when the doors to the great hall flew open and in stumbled a very frightened looking Professor Quirrell, who promptly shouted, "Troll...in the dungeons," and then continued in an almost breathless voice, "thought you ought to know."

With his message delivered, Quirrell promptly fainted in the center of the great hall. Everything was silent for a heartbeat before pandemonium took hold as students were screaming and shouting while all of the students made a mad rush for the doors, only to be stopped by Professor Dumbledore's amplified voice, "SILENCE!"

Once he had the attention of all of the students and faculty, Dumbledore spoke again, "Now then, prefects of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor, take your houses back to your common rooms. Slytherin prefects, take your house to the auditorium on the fifth floor, north corridor. The teachers will come with me to deal with the troll. Go."

After that announcement, the only voices heard were those of the prefects calling for their houses to follow them. As the group of friends got up to follow their prefects, Hermione asked, "What about Padma?"

The group all looked at each other, every single one of them was in silent agreement, they were going to rescue Padma. The group stayed as close together as possible while still making it look like they were following their houses' individual prefects to their designated destinations. Once they reached the second floor, the group split off from the rest of the student body, heading off in the direction of one of the other stairwells. As they were heading for the stairs, the group was hit with an odor that was best described as three week old meat left out in the rain. The stench was almost enough to overwhelm them as also heard the footfalls of heavy feet accompanied by the halting sound of a heavy wooden object being dragged. As the group came to a halt, they saw a glimpse of the troll going around the corner ahead in the direction of one of the girl's loo on this floor. As they progressed down the corridor slowly, Harry started forming a plan in his head. He stopped the group as they reached the corner and saw the troll standing outside of the door to a girl's loo. He turned around and looked at the group, "Neville, Tracey, the two of you go find the professors and tell them where we are and that we found the troll," he was interrupted by the sound of a heavy wooden door being obliterated followed shortly by a very young and feminine scream, "as well as Padma. Everyone else, with me."

With that, Harry started moving in the direction of the loo that the troll had disappeared into, and started talking about his plan, "Everyone except Ron will help draw the troll out and away from the loo as well as keep the troll occupied while Ron slips into the loo to get Padma out of there. Once they are free and clear, hopefully the professors will arrive by then, but if not, well, let's not worry about the possibility that we all end up as so many blood splatters if they don't.

"Blaise, Diana, Daphne, and Nym, the four of you line up along the walls of the corridor, two on each side, the rest of you form a half circle in the corridor linking the two groups along the walls. I will go into the loo and draw the troll out, hopefully without ending up as the aforementioned blood splatter."

Draco piped up at that point while giving his cousin a Marauder's grin, "When you do end up as said blood splatter, can I get your cloak?"

Harry returned the grin, "Git."

Before any more banter could be exchanged, there was a muffled roar immediately followed by the sound of breaking porcelain and the same feminine scream. That was all the prompting that was needed as the rest of the group quickly got into position, but just as Harry was about to enter the loo, a hand landed on his shoulder accompanied by a voice, "Wait just a moment, oh illustrious leader. You should allow my dear brother and I to act as the distraction team to draw the troll out of the loo."

Harry looked at the Weasley twins, for it had been Fred, or was it George, who had stopped him from entering. The other twin spoke, "We have just the thing to draw the troll out."

Harry frowned as he saw that the two of them were wearing fair approximations of the Marauder's grin and suddenly had a bad feeling about what they had, "Just don't blow Padma or the castle up with the troll, please."

The opposite twin that had spoken earlier piped up, "No promises or guarantees in that department. After all, we are testing new products."

Harry now really felt like he didn't want to know what those two had planned as he moved to his place at the top of the arch that stretched across the corridor. He spoke as the twins entered the loo, twin maniacal grins on their faces, "When the troll comes out of the loo, I will help draw it into the center of our area and move backwards, drawing it further in, once it is inside out area, we will close the circle and then switch off attacking the troll with stunning and stinging hexes. When you see the troll trying to swing at the person to your left, use the shield charm that we learned to protect them. Everyone watches out for everyone else."

Just then there were a muffled _boom-boom_ followed by a roar and the sounds of wooden stalls being knocked down. The rest of the group watched as a large cloud of smoke came rolling out of the shattered doorway, accompanied by the two redheads as one of them tossed a small object over his shoulder into the loo. A moment or two later there was a flash of light and a muffled _boom_ followed by another roar as a very angry and disoriented troll came stomping out of the loo, his beady eyes casting about for whoever used those loud things on it. It didn't have a moment as Harry yelled, "Stupify!"

The red light that shot from his wand crossed the distance between the two of them and hit the troll directly between the eyes, staggering it for a moment before it focused on where the attack came from, seeing Harry's wand pointed directly at the troll. The troll roared and moved towards Harry while the young man, much to the evident surprise of most of the students there with him as well as two of the observers, continued to fire stunning and stinging hexes at the troll at a rate that most fifth years weren't able to match while backing up, drawing the troll further into the trap. When the troll had advanced far enough away from the loo for Harry to feel comfortable, he momentarily took his eyes off of the troll to look past it and locked eyes with Ron, giving the redhead a small nod, and watched as Ron slipped into the loo. He then turned his attention back to the troll just in time to see the troll swing his club at Draco who was standing to Harry's left in the now-complete circle, the Weasley twins and the other four having moved to close the circle, and without even missing a beat, Harry shouted the spell as he pointed his wand at this cousin, "Protego Maximo!"

The shield sprang into existence just in time to intercept the descending club. The troll's club bounced off of the white shield with a loud gong-like sound and the force of the club bouncing off of the shield almost made the troll stagger. It didn't have long to think about it as Nym started shooting spells at the troll from its right, causing the troll to turn and face the new source of stinging annoyance. As they continued their alternating attacks on the troll, Harry saw Ron escape the loo with a scared and severely waterlogged Padma Patil in his arms and move down the corridor in the direction that they came from originally. It was just in that moment when the troll was hit by several powerful hexes and charms as the professors, along with Neville and Tracey arrived. The troll looked in the direction of the new attackers and let out a roar as it brandished its club. The students on that side of the circle scattered to either side as the troll lumbered towards the gathered professors at the far end of the corridor.

Within a few moments, the professors had the troll unconscious and bound. All of the students watched as Professor Snape stormed directly up to Harry, his black eyes full of rage as he said, "Potter, what is the meaning of this? Leading a group of kids against a full-grown mountain troll is the opposite of what I had come to expect of you. This is the kind of stunt your father would have pulled to get more fame and fortune."

Harry open his mouth to speak, but was cut off as Draco answered, "Professor, Harry did what he though was right to save a fellow student. The rest of us chose to follow his lead. He came up with a good plan that didn't have anyone here in too much danger. The way I see it, he acted just as a leader should."

Snape's eyes narrowed at both Draco and Harry for a moment before he turned to Dumbledore, "It is of course your decision, headmaster, as to what punishments these children receive, but I do recommend that Mister Potter have detention with myself for a week for disobeying your order and sneaking away from the prefects."

* * *

 **The Real World**

 **The Potter Residence**

Bella and the Delacours came out of the pensieve a couple hours later in complete silence. Dastan was deep in thought over what his wife and he had just seen. They had watched Harry and his friends warn Professor Snape about Quirrell trying to steal the Philosepher's Stone one night in late May when Dumbledore was suddenly called away from Hogwarts to visit the Ministry of Magic. When they had told Snape about their theory, he immediately went to see if he could get in contact with Professor Dumbledore. What had followed that conversation had been Harry and his friends going into the gauntlet to face down Quirrell, and in the end, it had been revealed that Quirrell had been sharing his body with the specter that was Voldermort, after a brief but intense battle, Harry had defeated the Quirrell/Voldermort by grabbing on to the sides of his face and not letting go. They had watched as the specter of Voldermort had passed through Harry's chest as it fled from the castle, knocking him out.

From there, they had immediately gone into Harry's second year, starting with the disastrous meeting with Gilderoy Lockhart, followed by Harry and friends watching the sorting of the new students including one Ginny Weasley into the House of Gryffindor, the Quidditch team tryouts where both Harry and his friend Tracey made the team as Seeker and Chaser respectively. They had watched the string of events had unfolded as haunting messages were written in blood on the walls of the corridors while petrified students were found in close proximity to the messages. Dastan had been impressed how Harry had handled most of the school turning against him and calling him the "Heir of Slytherin" when Harry had shown some talent with Parseltongue during the first meeting of a dueling club that Professor Lockhart had tried to start and Nott had conjured a snake that instead of attacking Harry had turned to attack the audience and Harry had told it to leave peacefully, which the snake did.

What had impressed Apolline was how many of Harry's friends, including the older Gryffindors that had become friends with him the previous year rallied around him along with the vast majority of the house of snakes, the older members of the house arranging for escorts for Harry and his friends within the house for going between classes. Harry and his friends worked feverishly to figure out what was going on, even going so far as to get outside help from Bella, how that had ended up with them figuring out about the basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets followed by taking that information to Professor Snape and going with him to Professor Dumbledore. That had led to Snape and Harry going into the Chamber to discover the unconscious Ginny Weasley, who was not alone in the Chamber while Dumbledore dealt with the sacking and outing of a certain useless fraud of a Defense professor.

Dastan had been chilled to the bone as they watched Snape engage in pitched battle against an almost completely revived teenage Tom Riddle, who had already had become an accomplished duelist by the age of seventeen with a vast array of dark curses at his disposal, while Harry had a rooster and his father's cloak to try to contend with the Serpent of Slytherin. Unfortunately, the rooster had gotten free from Harry when he had been knocked off his feet by the serpent's tail while trying to move around the edge of the chamber to get to where Ginny and the diary where while the serpent had been following Riddle's orders and offering a second opponent for Snape to contend with. When the rooster had gotten free, while still refusing to crow out fear of the seventy foot basilisk in the room, it had been spotted by Riddle, who used a moment where Snape had been distracted looking towards the now-revealed Harry to see if he was alright, fired a blasting hex that reduced the rooster to scattered meat, shattered bone, splattered blood, and floating feathers.

The loss of the rooster had forced Harry to face the basilisk head on. What had followed was an impressive bit of cunning and courage from Harry as he used his new-found talent to draw the basilisk into attacking the diary which he had foolishly picked up. The trick worked, as the serpent, that had been blinded by Professor Dumbledore's phoenix familiar, bit down, destroying the diary and the almost-corporeal Tom Riddle with it, but unfortunately getting Harry's right arm with one of its fangs in the process. Harry had remained conscious enough to stab the basilisk through the roof of the mouth with a dagger that he always had in a sheathe attached to his left forearm under his robes, killing it.

Following a discussion about the nature of the diary, which was as of even today uncertain, and how Riddle had been drawn to anything that made him special: his ability with Parseltongue, his discovery of the Chamber of Secrets, the discovery that he was a direct descendent of Salazar Slytherin, and the draw of the darker arts of magic, time again seemed to flow past very quickly, showing them an almost pedestrian third year in which the most exciting things that happened were Harry arranging for Hermione and Cho to go out, mostly by getting both to agree to going to Hogsmeade with him as a friend and then after the two girls had met up in the entrance hall, he had politely bowed out to go down to the village with his cousins, and the repeated dodging of the advances of one Ginny Weasley. At least with that issue, he had help in the form of three of her older brothers while Percy, who was head boy that year, tried to assist and continuously encouraged her in her pursuit of Harry.

All of this while dealing with the presence of dementors, foul creatures that feasted on the happy emotions of people while instilling fear in their victims, often making their victims relive their worst memories. To combat their effects on him, Harry had learned the patronus charm from his uncle and Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin. The reason for the dementors presence at the school had puzzled Dastan until Peter Pettigrew had been captured while trying to sneak into the Slytherin common room and dorms, presumably to get to Harry early in the year, but not early enough as Harry had fallen off of his broom during the first Quidditch match of the year during a particularly nasty storm, which had then carried his Nimbus 2001 racing broom to the Whomping Willow, the almost sentient tree which had then destroyed it. The replacement he had received from his mother as an "Early Christmas Present" had been the brand new Firebolt racing broom, the fastest broom in the world...

* * *

 **Later That Night**

Later that night, Dastan and Apolline had retired to the guest suite, to which they had been shown to by a very eager house-elf by the name of Dobby. Now, after both had showered, Dastan lay awake staring at the canopy of the king-sized four-poster bed with his wife and mate snuggled against his side, her head on his chest and her own silver-blonde hair spread out across his chest, one of his hands idly moving up and down her spine as he mulled over what he had seen. If someone had told him that a young man of just fourteen years old would have faced and beaten foes beyond his years, Dastan would have scoffed at them, if that same person would have told him that that same young man would save his daughter's life, he would have hauled them off to a mental institution for having gone mad.

However, it was true, all of it, and now he had one question on his mind, how was this same young man and Fleur going to take the news that they were going to have to be married?

* * *

 **A/N: And the flashbacks, at least the ones dealing with Harry's first three years at Hogwarts, are done. Please let me know what you think.**


	6. So, Let Me Get This Straight

**A/N: So, now that the majority of the flashbacks are out of the way, at least those dealing with Harry's first three years at Hogwarts, we will get to the part where they wake up Harry and Fleur. Oh, what fun this will be (an evil chuckle could be heard around the room), and yes, we will finally get to meet Harry's little sister.**

 **I do have to say one thing: thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed the story thus far. The fact that I have received ninety-five reviews for just the first five chapters is extremely encouraging and humbling. So, thank you all.**

 **And to answer the question as to why Dobby was one of the Potter house-elves, I decided to change canon and make Dobby part of the Potter family from the beginning. In this story, he is one of Misty and Makon's children.**

 **Wait, let me check...no, not there, how about... nope, still don't own the rights to Harry Potter. I just write this for fun!**

 **As always read and enjoy, and if you can't find any enjoyment out of reading this story, go read someone else's.**

* * *

 **So, Let Me Get This Straight...**

* * *

 **The Next Morning**

 **Number Twelve Gimmauld Place**

Sabra Elizabeth Potter woke as the sun was making its presence known through the heavy curtains hanging over the windows that were set into the wall to her bed's left. It wasn't an instantaneous arrival at wakefulness, but a slow approach to consciousness that caused the now eleven year old girl to groan audibly as she rolled over in her bed to face away from the windows. The raven haired girl drifted back to sleep, not even aware of the door to her room quietly opening to admit a small house-elf with a gym bag full of clothes slung over her shoulder.

The house-elf silently padded across the hardwood floor to the side of the bed and said, "Young Miss needs to get up. We have guests and Missus Bella said you had to get up and come home."

This elicited a groan from Sabra, "Too tired. Go wake up Harry first."

Misty, the house-elf in question, shook her head and said, "Can't wake Harry. He sleeping under potion with a guest."

That woke Sabra up, causing her to sit up and look at Misty, "What do you mean Harry's 'sleeping under potion with a guest'? When did we have guests over at home?"

Misty answered as she was starting to gather her young mistress's clothes from the previous evening, "Last night after World Cup. Lady Potter and young master Harry came home with a young girl and had Misty take the girl's father to the house. Missus Poppy treated Harry and the girl's injuries and gave them a potion so that they won't wake until this afternoon. Now hurry Miss Sabra, Mistress Bella be expecting you home in time for breakfast."

With that statement and a mounting curiosity, Sabra got out of bed and quickly dressed in a fresh set of clothes provided by Misty and then followed the house-elf out of the room and down the two flights of stairs to the first floor where she came face to face with her uncle, Sirius Black. She looked at him and frowned, "What's wrong, Padfoot? You look as if someone killed the cat or that Christmas came early, can't tell which."

Sirius had been shaken out of his musings by the sound of his niece's voice. Sirius looked up and saw Sabra looking at him with a concerned look on her face, "Nothing's wrong, Pup, just going over some plans for a bachelor party and debating on venue for said party. Also trying to figure out how much trouble the groom will be in if everything goes according to plan."

Sabra fully believed that her uncle was planning someone's bachelor party and knowing her uncle, whoever it was would be sleeping on the couch for at least the first month of his marriage because of it, she was eleven, not stupid. After all, Uncle Sirius, also known as Padfoot, didn't know when it was safe to stop with a joke, hence his previously arctic-kind-of-cold relationship with Forktongue because of a joke-gone-bad during their mutual time at Hogwarts. She felt the overwhelming urge to caution her child-like uncle, "Well, just remember not to get whoever it is into too much trouble. By the way, do you know what's going on back at Potter Manor?"

The look her uncle had told Sabra that he knew exactly what happened at Potter Manor after all of the other kids except for Harry used the portkey to get away from the World Cup and to the safety of Grimmauld Place. She frowned and was about to inquire further when a raven-haired missile cam flying down the stairs and slammed straight into Sabra's back, causing both of them to fall to the ground with the other figure landing on top of her, knocking the wind from her lungs as everyone in the entryway heard a muffled _thump_ from the second floor followed by a very feminine shriek from approximately the same location.

Sabra looked over her shoulder into the grinning face of a miniature Sirius Black with the exception of the pale blue eyes that the boy had received from his mother still lying on her back. She asked, "Do you mind getting up, Reg?"

The boy seemed to think about it for a moment and then said, his grin still in place, "Yes I do mind. I find it quite enjoyable to be laying atop a pretty lady. After all, if my father seems to enjoy laying atop mum so much, why shouldn't I like laying atop of a beautiful lady such as yourself?"

Sabra snorted as she shoved her cousin off of her and gave him a hard look as she sat up, "A couple things. One, you are my cousin. Two, we are not, nor will we ever be married. Three, eww. Four, you are just trying to get out of whatever just punishment you earned via whatever prank you pulled upstairs," she paused for a moment as her eyes flickered to the individual standing behind her cousin, "and lastly, good luck keeping your skin intact."

Reg opened his mouth to ask what she meant when a cold feminine voice came from above and behind him, "Regulus. Sirius. Black."

Sabra gave an involuntary shudder and whispered with a hint of fear in her voice, "All three names."

Regulus paled as his name was very specifically annunciated in a voice he knew meant only one thing: he was about to get beaten to within an inch of his life by his older sister, Susan Bones. He arched his head back to look up into the thunderous face of his older sister figure who was standing over him and said, "Dad, a little help here?"

Sirius shook his head, "Wait let me think about it for a moment Pup... Nope, not helping."

Regulus looked at his father in shock and tried to plead his case, "But Dad, she's going to kill me."

Sirius gave his son the Marauder's grin and said in a voice full of mischief and mirth, "Well, you should have thought about that before trying to pull your little stunt upstairs," and paused for a moment to look at his daughter-in-all-but-blood, "Susie, I think Kreacher said that the pantry was clean enough to be used for punishments, and no murder."

Susan nodded while mirroring her father's grin while answering in a sing-song voice full of poisoned honey, "Okay Dad, but can I at least take a little skin off, maybe just a pound. Then he's going to be cleaning up his mess both in the pantry and in my room."

Sabra rose to her feet, deciding it was high time that she got home before one of her cousins tried to appeal to her sense of familial loyalty, and made for the fireplace in the sitting room, took a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace, announcing, "Potter Manor!"

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **Potter Manor**

Bellatrix Potter awoke just as the first rays of sunlight were starting to peak through the curtains on her east-facing floor-to-ceiling windows on that side of her bedroom. It wasn't the master suite, but it had been hers since she ran away from her family after learning that her parents were planning on marrying her off to Rodolphus LeStrange as soon as she finished her time at Hogwarts. That had been just before her third year at Hogwarts. Her parents had been furious when they had come to collect her, thinking that they could force her into the contract with one of the rising stars in Voldermort's youth movement, but had left empty handed when she had made a magical oath before them and the gathered Potter family stating that if she married LeStrange or anyone that was not of her choosing, she would lose her magic. Her parents had been so enraged that they disowned her on the spot and left. As soon as they had left, Dorea Potter née Black and her husband had taken her to Gringotts and adopted her magically, making her a Potter and giving their son, James, an older sister to help raise him.

Since then, she had loved her new little brother as she still loved her sisters, who she saw all the time at Hogwarts and still did what she could to protect them from their manipulative and power hungry parents. Her sister Andromeda had been able to escape a marriage contract by eloping with her husband, a muggleborn wizard by the name of Ted Tonks, and they had a beautiful daughter by the name of Nymphodora. Unfortunately, Bella's youngest sister, Narcissa hadn't been so fortunate and had been forced into a marriage contract with Lucius Malfoy, also a member of Voldermort's youth movement who eventually became Death Eaters. The fortunate thing was that he had been captured wearing Death Eaters' robes while attempting to circumvent the wards around Longbottom Manor along with Rodolphus and Rebastan LeStrange, who had been similarly garbed just a month after the death of James and Lily. The three had been interrogated with Veritaserum, tried, and sent through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries. The death of Lucius had freed Bella's youngest sister, Cissy from her loveless and abusive marriage and had allowed her to raise Draco in the way that she saw fit, turning him into a fine young wizard who was as close as a brother to her son, Harry, and her daughter, Sabra.

Sabra, she was currently at Grimmauld Place where th Sirius's family, which had been the agreed upon destination for the emergency portkey from the World Cup. She remembered when she had found the girl left in the phone booth that served as the front entrance to the Ministry of Magic, only a few months old, bundled in a blanket, and screaming at the top of her little lungs because it had been a cold December day and she had been left there for possibly a few hours. Bella remembered how the only reason she had found the baby at all was that she had decided to apparate to work that day. She remembered picking up the crying baby and doing as she had done with Harry just two years earlier, started bouncing the baby in her arms while whispering softly to quiet the child even as she stepped into the phone booth and rode down to the atrium of the Ministry. That had been when she had seen the note attached to the baby's blankets that had sent her blood boiling and had made her contemplate murder for only the third time in her career as an auror. The note had read:

 _This child is a freak. We cannot stand to have freaks in our family. We were told by a friend that if we left the child in this phone box that she would be found by her own kind._

After reading the note, Bella almost wanted to hunt down her parents and end them, but her maternal instincts took over and she made her way to the nearest loo, where she had changed the baby, called for Misty to bring her a bottle of baby formula, fed the baby, and sent a patronus to her boss saying that she needed a personal day to take care of family issues. Bella had immediately left the Ministry via floo to the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley. She had walked to Gringotts and asked to speak to Drakefang. When he had arrived, Bella had informed him that she wanted to adopt the little girl both by blood and magic. Drakefang had readily agreed, especially after reading the unsigned note left with the child. They had performed the ritual under the watchful eyes of her sisters Cissy and Andi, Sirius and his wife Amelia, and Remus, all of whom had been called to witness as well as Ragnok, the manager of Britain's branch of Gringotts. After the ceremony was completed, the baby's features had changed to match her new mother's, including her lavender eyes, and she had a new name, Sabra Elizabeth Potter. Bella had then brought her new daughter home and showed her to her then three year old son, who had been ecstatic to have a baby sister, swearing that he would be the "bestest big brother ever". Since then Harry had been true to his word, always attending to his little sister's needs as best as he could, even playing what she wanted to play, even though he said it was "too girly" for him, but it was for his sister, so he did it. When he had left for school for the first time, Sabra had been almost inconsolable for the first few days until her mother had reminded her that she could still write to Harry and he could write to her.

Back in the present, Bella called out as she sat up in bed, "Misty."

The house-elf appeared before the now sitting Bella with a soft _crack_ , "Missus Bella called for Misty."

Bella nodded, "Can you go to Grimmauld Place and get Sabra? If possible, I would like for her to be home by breakfast."

Misty nodded and disapparated with a _crack_ , leaving Bella alone with her thoughts. She quickly rose from her bed and made her way to her private bathroom, shedding her night clothes, and started a hot shower. As she stepped under the hot running water, Bella let her mind mull over everything that Dastan had told her and Sirius last night as she showered. She was pretty sure that she knew what Harry was going to do, but it still pained her that his choice had been taken from him. Bella had wanted to see her son marry for love, not to save someone's life. Of course, the only way that that could change was that if he flatly refused to marry Fleur. As these thoughts were running through her head, Bella finished her shower, shut the water off, stepped out of the stand alone shower, and wrapped herself in a towel.

A half hour later, Bella, Sabra along with Dastan and Apolline Delacour were sitting down to breakfast in the informal dining area that was connected to the kitchen. Sabra looked from her mother to the guests and back, unsure of what was going on and why these people, not that they weren't nice, were sitting at their table. She glanced at her mom and said with a forkful of eggs halfway between her plate and mouth, "So, Mum, what's going on with Harry?"

Bella looked at her daughter as Sabra finished the transfer of eggs from her plate to her mouth and pulled the fork out, all the while looking at her with a very expectant look on her face. She glanced at Dastan for a moment before looking back at Sabra and said, "Well, Sabra, the short of it is that your brother saved their oldest daughter's life and now she owes him a life debt, which for a Veela means that she either has to marry him or lose her magic."

Sabra, used to her brother's saving lives kick, said, "Oh, is that all?"

With that, Sabra turned back to her food and continued eating, seemingly without truly hearing what Bella had said.

Bella started a mental countdown in her head: _3_

 _...2_

 _...1_

 _...and now._

Sure enough just as she thought the word 'now', Sabra's head snapped up, her lavender eyes wide with surprise, as she said in a loud voice, "Wait, did you say he has to marry her? As in: wedding gown, magical vows, honeymoon, 'Allow me to introduce Mister and Misses Potter', that kind of marriage?"

Bella gave her daughter an amused grin and said, "Yep," making sure to pop the 'p'. With that Bella told her daughter everything that Harry had told her about what happened after he had gotten separated from the rest of the kids.

Sabra frowned, "So, let me get this straight: because Harry has his whole saving people thing, he is now engaged to a Veela who is three years older than him and is, if her mother's appearance any indication, smoking hot?"

Bella smiled at her daughter, "Got it in one."

Sabra sat back in her chair, "Bloody hell."

Bella reprimanded her daughter in a stern voice, "Language."

Sabra rolled her eyes at her mother, "Mum, I've heard you say far worse."

Dastan frowned and cut off Bella's retort, "Lady Potter, why are you telling your daughter before we talk to the two that are the ones primarily concerned with the situation?"

Bellatrix looked at Dastan and answered, "I am telling my daughter because it concerns her as well, seeing as she is Harry's little sister and will soon be Fleur's little sister-in-law."

Dastan's frown seemed to deepen, "But Harry hasn't agreed yet, so this discussion may be all for naught. Don't you think that it would be wise to get Harry's answer before sharing the information with your daughter?"

Bella frowned, "No. I tend to try to not keep secrets from either of my children where the other is concerned. Besides, she would have found out eventually."

Sabra used that moment to cut in, "Uh, I am sitting right here."

Dastan looked at the girl, as if trying to decide something, before he sighed, "Sorry, Bella, I'm just concerned about my daughter."

Bella nodded, "I understand, I would probably as cautious as you are if I were in your shoes."

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later**

The rest of the morning passed quickly with the adults seemingly to become more and more anxious as time passed. Just as the four of them were preparing to sit down for lunch, the fireplace in the entryway flared to life and Poppy Pomfrey exited. She had barely exited the fireplace when Bella came into the entryway, having heard the floo flare up and smiled, "Poppy, how are you today?"

Madam Pomfrey returned the younger witch's smile and said, "I'm doing fine, Bella, thank you."

Bella nodded and said, "We were just about to have lunch, care to join?"

Pomfrey smiled, "That would be lovely, thank you."

Without another word, Bella led the way from the entryway to the informal dining area, which was situated off to the right, separated by a short hallway and a set of double doors. Immediately upon entering the dining area, Poppy noticed the silvery-blonde haired lady whose appearance was such that it was like looking at an older version of the girl she had treated last night, causing her to come to the conclusion that this woman must be the girl's mother. As she took a seat next to Sabra, Bella introduced her, "Apolline, Dastan, allow me to introduce you to Madam Poppy Pomfrey, she is the healer at Hogwarts and has been attending to my two adventure-prone children since they could crawl."

Dastan nodded to the older witch, "It is nice to see you again, Madam Pomfrey."

Apolline spoke, "It is nice to meet you, Madam Pomfrey."

The older witch scoffed as she sat down, "Please call me Poppy, neither of you were students at Hogwarts, nor are you likely to be."

Both Dastan and Apolline nodded and said that they would try to remember that. With that settled, the five people held idle conversation as they enjoyed their lunch...

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **Waking Up and the Answer**

The first thing that Harry noticed as he slowly came back to consciousness was the weight and warmth of a body sleeping almost half on top of him, their slender arm wrapped possessively around his waist, and what was possibly their head resting on the left side of his chest, directly over his heart. The next thing he noticed was the delicate scent of jasmine and lilac that tickled his nose. The next thing he noticed as he cracked his eyes open was a mess of silver-blonde hair splayed across his shirted chest. The body pressed against his was decidedly feminine with a slender frame and her womanly assets pressed against his rib cage, separated only by the shirts they were wearing while one of her legs was draped over his thighs, as if her intention was to keep him in place as her personal under-blanket heater and pillow, again their skin separated by clothing. As Harry recalled what had happened the previous night, he had a sneaking suspicion that this that the current situation he found himself in, with this particular angelic beauty half-pressed against and half-draped over him, was going to become the new normal for him, not that he minded in the least, he was a red-blooded teenage boy after all and she was the aforementioned beauty, but there was one problem, the close proximity of the girl had caused a certain part of his anatomy to react in a way that had his pajama pants tented in the front mere inches above the girls leg. Harry tried to send his thoughts to the girl while trying to extract himself from her grip, _please don't move you leg up. Pretty please don't move your leg up. Pretty, pretty please don't move your leg up._

It seemed as his silent plea would go unanswered as he felt the girl's leg shift up a few inches, collapsing the tent that his pajama pants had been, and ensuring that the girl could feel his reaction to being in bed with such a vision of beauty pressed against him. He watched in horror as she reacted by turning her face into his chest and breathing deeply, her voice coming out slightly muffled and very husky as her hands began wandering, "Mmm, it seems zat someone is glad to see me, non?"

Only one word went through his mind as he watched the girl react to his morning wood, _crap_. Harry responded in the only way that he could as he grabbed her hands and pulled them away from him, moving her enough to slide out from under her and sit up, "Uhh, don't you think that we should at least know each other before we go that far? I don't even know your name."

The sound of his voice and the young man grabbing her wrists, stopping her menstrations, while moving away from her snapped Fleur into full wakefulness. The first thing she noticed as her eyes snapped open was the same set of piercing emerald eyes that she had seen the night he saved her, whenever that was, only now they held a spark of fear and surprise. Then she noticed his messy, no messy didn't begin to cover the state of his black hair, unruly was far more appropriate description, followed by his handsome aristocratic features, and lastly his slender frame that was currently clothed in a simple forest green t-shirt and black shorts. She looked down and noticed that she was in a simple gray shirt and pants that hung loose on her, probably to protect her modesty, though the way the shirt hung, it gave the young man sitting across from her a good idea of the size and shape of her breasts. Wait, why was she even in his bed? The last thing she could remember was... him saving her from those thugs, no that wasn't quite the last thing she remembered. She was also dimly aware of the fact that she had wrapped her arms around his neck and refused... to... let... go. _Oh no,_ she thought, _Goddess,_ _please tell me that I didn't..._

As the thought passed through her mind, Fleur noticed that the front of the young man's shorts were forming a nice sized tent, and she could feel her cheeks heating up as she saw him blush as well. He took a moment to clear his throat, causing her blue eyes to snap up and lock onto the most brilliant emerald green eyes that she had ever seen as he said in an uncertain voice, "So, uhh, good morning?"

Harry had lost the witty remark that had been on the tip of his tongue when her eyes had locked onto his and he found himself staring into the most amazing pair of dark sea blue eyes that he had ever seen, so he had fallen back on the simplest greeting that he could think of and silently cursed himself when he heard how uncertain he sounded to his own ears. He heard her giggle at him and knew that he was making himself out to be a complete idiot in front of this girl. She gave him a brilliant smile, "Zo, when did we move from not knowing each ozzer to holding hands?"

She watched as Harry released her hands as if he had been burned while stammering, "I... uh, uh...well...sorry."

Fleur laughed as his face turned an even more brilliant shade of red. She watched as he suddenly realized his continuing problem and bolted from the bed through one of the doors on the left hand wall of the room. A minute later, she heard the water running, causing her to burst into another fit of laughter that only lasted for a minute or two as the slow realization of what happened dawned on her. The young man had saved her life and when he had picked her up, she had wrapped her arms around his neck and refused to let him go, even after they had gotten to what apparently was his family's home, and had subsequently spent the night in his bed, subconsciously pressing her body against his. Fleur took a moment to look around the room, taking in the book shelves set into one wall and were full of books, most appearing to be magical in nature, the fireplace and mantle with the green banner featuring a basilisk-looking snake in the shape of an "S" in the center, and of course the dark hardwood flooring that seemed to give the house a warm and homely feel.

Just then the door to the bedroom opened, drawing Fleur's attention to those who were coming in through the door. The first person through the door was a stunning woman with glossy black hair falling in waves of ringlets past her shoulder blades, fine aristocratic features, lavender eyes that held the glimmer of a cunning intelligence, and an hour glass figure that would put many a Veela to shame with her amazing womanly curves coupled with what appeared to be an athletic build of finely sculpted muscles dancing just under her skin with every movement, if what she saw on the woman's arms were any indication of the rest of her build. She moved like a predator, quiet and graceful, deadly and beautiful. The second person she saw enter the room was a bear of a man that could intimidate just by his mere presence, his dark sea blue eyes focused entirely on Fleur, her father. He was followed by a woman who appeared to be an older version of Fleur with the only difference being that she had icy-blue eyes instead of the dark sea blue that her husband and oldest daughter shared. Coming into the room behind Fleur's mother was a matronly woman who looked to be in her early sixties, with brown hair that was graying, watery blue eyes, stern yet pleasant features, and a figure that had once been athletic and stunning but had grown thicker, if only a little, over the decades since her youth. This woman was wearing the clothing that Fleur was accustomed to seeing in a healer: dark brown ankle-length dress that hid her figure with a white apron over the front and was carrying what looked to be a medical bag. The last person coming into the room looked like a younger version of the first woman and looked to be about eleven. If Fleur had to guess, this girl was Harry's little sister.

She watched as the first woman's gaze took in her state of wakefulness, the state of the sheets and blanket on the bed and the very noticeable absence of the young man in a single sweep of the room. The woman didn't have to ask where Fleur's companion from last night was as they all could hear the water running in the shower. Everyone seemed to be looking at each other, waiting for someone to speak first. They didn't have to wait long as the youngest of the group spoke up, a mischievous grin on her face, "So, you slept with my brother, huh. Dibs on naming my niece or nephew."

Fleur flushed crimson as her mother and father had the decency to look completely scandalized as the first woman who entered the room turned on the younger version of herself, her voice stern, "Sabra. Elizabeth. Potter."

Fleur shuddered involuntarily and whispered with a hint of fear in her voice, "All three names."

The woman that Fleur guessed was the girl's mother continued, "You will learn to keep a civil tongue in your head or I'll let Auntie Cissy have her way with you."

Sabra shuddered as she recalled the last time that she had 'etiquette education' with her youngest aunt. She remembered how Aun-... no, it was best not to think about it or she may have nightmares for the next week.

At that moment Fleur's father spoke to her as he gestured to the three women she didn't know, "Fleur, allow me to introduce you to Lady Bellatrix Potter, Matriarch of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter, her daughter Sabra, and the healer that attended you and Harry last night, Madam Poppy Pomfrey."

Fleur frowned as her mind started racing, _wait, if she is Lady Potter and Papa said that Madam Pomfrey attended to me and Harry, then that would mean..._ , her eyes snapped wide as she put the proverbial 'two and two' together, _that means that I was saved by THE Harry Potter. I was saved by The-Boy-Who-Lived!_

She groaned as the other part of the equation clicked in her mind, _that means... Oh Goddess, please let a life debt not-_

Bellatrix speaking broke Fleur out of her internal dialog mid-thought as she spoke, sarcasm coloring her voice, "To finish that thought: yes, you now owe my son a life debt," pausing for a moment to give Fleur a grin that sent a shiver down her spine, and not the good kind of shiver, "welcome to the family."

Any response was cut off by Harry's voice coming from Fleur's right, "What's this about a life debt?"

Everyone's attention snapped to where Harry was standing in the doorway to the adjoining bathroom, a towel tied around his waist. Fleur's gaze took in the lean, steel-corded muscle that adorned his slender frame, noticing for the first time the jagged scar on his right forearm, as well as a couple of other scars adorning his upper body. She saw the clearly defined six pack before she looked away, her face heating at the sight of the almost completely nude Harry. She heard the younger girl giggle, "Harry, I think you broke her."

Fleur flushed even redder at the younger girl's comment. Bellatrix spoke, her voice full of mirth, "It would seem so," she then shifted her gaze to her son, "Harry, maybe you should get dressed. Then meet the rest of us down in the sitting room. We have some things to discuss."

Harry frowned at that comment, "Okay mum. Give me about fifteen minutes and I'll be down."

With that, Bella led all of the adults out of the room and was at the door before she looked back at the two teens, "Fleur, are you coming down or do you want to take a shower first?"

She responded, "I would like to zower firzt."

Bellatrix nodded, "Okay then, join us when you are ready."

Fleur nodded, "Merci, Lady Potter."

She got off the bed and moved towards the bathroom as soon as the door to the hallway was closed behind the retreating figure of Lady Potter. As she moved towards the bathroom, she noticed that Harry hadn't moved so she stopped about halfway between the bed and the bathroom door. She looked up at his eyes to keep from staring at the rest of his body as he spoke, "So, what does my mum mean when she says that you owe me a life debt?"

Fleur sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to take a shower until she answered that question, "When you zaved me lazt night, you incurred a life debt from me."

Harry nodded, "Okay, I get that, but why's that causing my little sister to make comments about us having children? What aren't you telling me?"

Fleur felt as if an iron weight settled into her stomach, "Do you realize zat I am Veela?"

Harry nodded, "Yes, I could feel a very small pull towards you when I first saw you, and I saw the crazed expressions on the faces of your attackers. Actually, I can still feel a small pull towards you. Still not getting what that has to do with the discussion of this life debt."

Fleur sighed, reluctant to tell him exactly what that means. She was reluctant to ask for him to save her again. After all, what right did she have to ask him to give up his choice of who he wanted to marry? It was selfish in the extreme. It was times like this that Fleur wished that she hadn't been born a Veela. Fleur agonized over the decision to tell him or not for a moment longer before she spoke, her voice unsteady, "Becauze I am Veela, our magic cannot exizt togezer wiz an unfulfilled life debt for more than one monz. At the end of zat time, if the debt ztill 'azn't been fulfilled by eizer zaving your life or another means, I will loze my magic and becauze we are beingz of magic and zus cannot exizt wizzout our magic, my life will end zortly after my magic iz gone."

Harry frowned, crossing his arms across his chest and leaned against the door frame, the cords of his muscles rippling under his skin, "Still not getting why that warranted the "welcome to the family" comment from my mum or my sister's comment about getting to name our children. So what is this other way you mentioned," she watched as he paused for a moment and she could see the proverbial 'click' in his mind as he understood, "the other way to satisfy the life debt is for us to get married, isn't it?"

Fleur sighed again, she seemed to be doing that a lot during this conversation, and nodded, "Oui, to zatisfy the debt wizzout me zaving your life iz for uz to become one through marriage and zee conzummation of zaid marriage."

She watched as Harry went from nonchalantly leaning against the doorframe to slumping against it. Fleur waited for him to say something, not wanting to interrupt his thought process. Then she heard him chuckle, surprising her, "Bloody hell. So, let me get this straight: to satisfy the debt, you and I have to get married and consummate the marriage before the one month time frame is up?"

Fleur nodded, uncertain as to why he would be chuckling about this, it was her life at stake, "Oui, that is correct."

Harry shook his head, an exact copy of the grin Fleur had seen his mother wear just a couple of minutes ago spreading across his face and casting a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Well that is bloody brilliant. It would be worth agreeing just to see the Weasley women's reactions to the fact that I am off the market."

Fleur frowned, her voice ice as she spoke, "I fail to zee how my life being at rizk is a laughing matter, and who are zeeze 'Weazel women' you zpeak of?"

For some reason, Harry mentioning them sent a flash of... something through her system. _Oh Goddess,_ she thought, _don't tell me that my magic has already chosen him for my mate. I must speak to Papa to find out what color the aura was._

Harry's smile and mirth disappeared when he heard the tone of voice she used, "The 'Weasel women' as you called them are the Matriarch and the lone female child, not to mention the youngest child, in a very large and very poor pureblood family, the Weasley Family. I am good friends with the youngest three males in the family, as well as the Patriarch, and on friendly terms with the two oldest boys, one of whom is dating my oldest cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, but be sure to call her Nym or Dora and not her full name, she hates it enough to hex you into next week. She's going into Auror training starting this September."

Fleur narrowed her eyes at Harry, her tone still icy as she asked, "And why would zeir reactions to our marriage be funny?"

Harry gave her a roguish lopsided grin that caused her pulse to quicken, "Because, since the night my parents died, the Weasley Matriarch has tried to secure me for her daughter so that she may gain access to the Potter family fortune and restore her own family's wealth. Hell, she even tried to persuade Professor Dumbledore that very night that letting her raise me would be the best solution, as she saw herself as the only mother capable of giving me a loving environment to grow up in. She has even gone so far as to brainwash her daughter into thinking that I belong to her and her alone. And even more outrageous, the bloated banshee has gone so far as to try to force my mother into signing multiple marriage contracts between me and her daughter with several conditions within the contracts that were: one, illegal and two, granting her access to my family's vaults and associated fortune in such a way that my mum couldn't block."

Fleur felt a sense of hope rise in her chest, "Zo, let me get zis ztraight, you are saying tha-"

Harry locked eyes with her, causing her to lose her voice for a moment, as he said, "Why don't you take a shower and get dressed first? Then we'll talk before we head down to my family."

As soon as Fleur had went into the bathroom, Harry called for one of the house-elves as he moved towards his small desk that contained ink and parchment and sat in a corner of his room, "Dobby."

With a small _crack_ the overly-energetic house-elf appeared, "What can Dobby do for young Master Harry?"

Harry had just finished inking a note to Drakefang, asking for a certain item out of the family vaults to be given to the house-elf as he said, "Can you please take this note to Drakefang and wait for him to give you the item requested then return to me as quickly as possible."

Dobby took the offered folded piece of parchment with an overly-enthusiastic nod, "At once Master Harry."

With that, the house-elf disapparated with a small _crack._

Harry got up from his desk and moved to his closet, grabbing a pair of boxers out of his dresser on the way. As he was pulling on a forest green t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, Harry called for another house-elf, "Misty."

The house-elf appeared with a small _crack_ and spoke, "What does young Master Harry need?"

He turned and looked at the elf, "Can you pop over to Madam Malkins and get some clothes and whatever feminine apparel as would be appropriate for Fleur? Tell her to draft it from my school trust vault. I need you to get back before she's done with her shower."

Misty looked at her young master, studying him for a moment as she realized that he had made a decision about what she had heard the Missus talk about last night with their guests. She nodded and asked, "Muggle clothing or robes?"

Harry thought for a moment and said, "Muggle. Make sure they're enchanted to adjust to her when she puts them on. Thank you, Misty."

Misty nodded, "No problem, Master Harry."

With that, the house-elf disapparated with a small _crack_. When the house-elf had disappeared, Harry had asked Makon to erect a privacy screen extending from the bathroom door to around the bed, which the house-elf had done without comment. It was only a couple of minutes later when Misty reappeared with the requested clothing, which Harry told her to leave spread out on the bed and leave. After the second house-elf had left, Harry had settled in to read one of his muggle fiction books while sitting in one of the high-backed comfortable chairs set next to the fireplace. It was nearly a half-hour later when Dobby returned with a small _crack_.

Dobby spoke, "Dobby be back, young Master with what you asked for from Mister Drakefang. Master Drakefang also said to tell you 'congratulations on your engagement'."

Harry smiled at the house-elf as he took the small velvet box from Dobby, "Thank you Dobby. You can go help Misty with whatever she needs."

The house-elf, his eyes glistening with unshed tears of joy, nodded and disappeared with another soft _crack,_ leaving Harry alone to wait for Fleur to finish her shower...

Fleur had taken her time with her shower, partly because she had cried tears of relief and hadn't wanted Harry to see them, and partly because she still felt disgusting from the events of last night. Events that, she swore to herself, would never happen again. If she was to become a member of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Fleur was going to need to be able to take care of herself, but that was a discussion for another time. She still wasn't sure if that was going to happen, though. Harry had only said that they would talk after her shower, not that he had made a decision whether to marry her or let her die. Thoughts of that nature kept whirling through her head as she finished her shower and toweled herself dry while using her wand to cast a drying charm on her hair. Fleur pulled her waist length silver-blonde hair into a loose ponytail as she exited the bathroom, only to find herself in a bedroom that was divided by a thick privacy screen that went from the bathroom door to around the bed, upon which there was a bra, pair of panties, a silvery t-shirt, and a pair of dark blue jeans that looked as if they would match her eye color. She was touched by how considerate Harry seemed to be, giving her privacy while she showered and got dressed.

As she pulled on the underwear and bra, Fleur instantly noticed that they magically adjusted to fit her perfectly. Fleur stood stunned for a minute as she considered how considerate Harry had to be to think of having clothes brought for her that would magically adjust to fit her perfectly. She was still standing there when she heard his voice from somewhere else in the room, "Fleur, are you alright?"

Fleur shook herself out of her musings and said as she quickly pulled on the t-shirt and jeans, not surprised to find that both magically adjusted to fit perfectly, "I'm fine, zank you."

She then moved and opened the privacy screen, instantly spotting Harry rising from the high backed chair he had been sitting in next to the fireplace while placing his book on the side table next to the chair. Fleur blushed as she felt his eyes rove over her body for a moment before he returned the smile, "You should thank Misty and Madam Malkin for the clothes, they're the ones who selected them for you. I only told them to get you some muggle clothes that were enchanted to fit you."

Fleur arched a delicate eyebrow, "Oh, and whose idea was the privacy screen?"

Harry chuckled as he scratched the back of his head, "Mine," he paused for a moment before he quickly changed the subject, "What happened to your accent?"

Fleur shook her head, "Non, you do not get to change the subject. Whose idea was any of this?"

Harry swallowed as his face turned crimson, "Mine, I guess. I just wanted to make sure that you were taken care of and that you knew that I wasn't going to use this life debt to take advantage of you."

She gave him a mischievous grin, one that had a led weight settling into his stomach, "Oh, so you wanted to take care of me without violating my privacy."

Harry groaned at her teasing, causing Fleur to giggle. She was at how easy it was to be around him, even though they didn't know each other at all. After a few more seconds of giggling at him, Fleur settled down and moved towards Harry. She felt a small thrill at how he watched her move towards him and then when she was near the twin of the chair that he had been sitting in, he said, "Please have a seat."

Fleur nodded and took the proffered chair, saying, " _Merci_."

Harry was feeling as nervous now as he had before his first Quidditch game at school. He glanced at the patiently sitting Fleur, her dark sea blue eyes focused entirely on him with a small glimmer of amusement in them. Scratch his earlier statement, he was about a hundred times more nervous now than he had been before that game. He knew that what he was about to do would change the course of his life, but he would do it because it was what was right. Harry couldn't let her die just because he didn't know her before today, so while she had been in the shower, really before that even, sometime during their earlier conversation, he had made the decision to follow his 'saving people thing' and go through with this. He suddenly found himself unable to sit as he started pacing the floor just in front of the fireplace, the small velvet box clutched in his hand in such a way as to be out of Fleur's line of sight as he moved. As he paced, Harry considered just what to say. He wanted to make this special for her, even though he knew that she was as trapped by the situation as he was.

Fleur had been growing even more concerned than she had been when he had asked her to sit down as she watched Harry pace back and forth the short distance in front of the fireplace. She was suddenly fearful that he had decided against marrying her. Fleur could understand why he would, after all, they didn't know each other and he probably had a girl he liked at his school. These thoughts were brought to a screeching halt as she noticed that he was standing before her nervously. The look in his eyes as he looked at her had her own butterflies dancing in her stomach.

Harry wet his lips with his tongue before he spoke, "I know that we don't know each other and that we were forced into this situation by magic. I have thought about this, including all of the ramifications and benefits. Granted, I haven't thought very long about it, but I just want you to know that I have thought about it."

Fleur asked, uncertainty coloring her voice, "You- you've thought about what?"

Harry decided that then was as good as time as any, so he dropped down to one knee before Fleur's chair and gently took her left hand in his right. The moment their skin made contact, he felt a little spark of electricity pass between them and looking up into her eyes, he could tell that she had felt it as well. He stared into her dark sea blue eyes, losing himself in their depths for a moment as he watched a myriad of emotions at play there. Harry couldn't name them all, but amongst them were fear, hope, and something that was barely there, just a small spark. He took a deep breath and spoke, "Fleur, as I said, we don't know each other right now, but if you will give me a chance, I would like for us to get to know each other. I know that it won't be easy, and that it will take a lot of work on both our parts, but I think that in the end, we can both find what we were looking for in this relationship."

She felt hope swell in her chest as she watched him produce a small velvet jewelry box, and felt her breath catch in her throat as she looked at the delicate ring nestled inside. It seemed to be made of the finest strands of what looked to be white gold woven together to form the band and resting in what looked to be an extension of some of the strands so that it looked like a soft pillow was one of the clearest diamonds she had ever seen. It wasn't large, at most maybe a half karat, but the rectangular diamond was breathtaking. She looked up into emerald green eyes that held no small amount of nerves, but held a steely determination as well as he said, "Fleur, would you do me the greatest honor a man can ask of a woman and consent to be my wife?"

Fleur was stunned as she looked at the young man kneeling before her with new eyes. Had she expected him to say yes to marrying her? If she was honest with herself, then no, she hadn't, and if he had, by some miracle, decided to give up his freedom of choice to save her life... again, she didn't expect him to do something like this, actually proposing as if they had been dating for years. She looked up from the ring and into those amazing emerald eyes, "Why?"

Harry never looked away from her eyes as he said, "Because letting you die for such a selfish reason as me wanting the freedom to choose who I marry isn't right. But besides that, I realized as I thought about it when we were talking earlier that maybe, just maybe, I could make this relationship go from being something forced upon us to something that we chose to pursue of our own free will. I felt that proposing to you would be a clear sign that I am not just accepting our circumstances, but choosing you, Fleur, not the hot Veela that everyone else sees, but you for who you are. I may not know everything about you yet, but I want this to be a symbol of my solemn vow that I will never shy away from you and that I will make an honest effort to get to know you."

Fleur was floored, there was just no two ways about it. His words and the sincerity that she saw shining in those emerald eyes made her understand that he had chosen her of his own free will. She now understood that the ring was the symbol of his commitment to their relationship, whatever that may end up being. The young Veela found herself so overwhelmed with emotion that she was unable to speak, so she nodded. Harry didn't seem to need anymore encouragement as he pulled the ring from the small box and slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand which he still held in his own hand. She watched in wonder as the ring magically resized to fit her hand perfectly followed by Harry bending his head forward and brushing his lips against the back of her hand, sending a small thrill through her.

After placing the kiss on the back of her hand, Harry rose to his full height, never letting go of her hand as he looked down at her with a warm smile on his face as he said while helping her to her feet, "Now for the fun part."

Fleur looked at him quizzically, "And what is that?"

Harry gave her that same lopsided grin that sent her pulse racing as he answered with mischief dancing in his eyes, "Meeting the family and telling them that we are now engaged."

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 **A/N: Phew, that was a hard chapter to write, but I think that the end result more than justifies the five restarts I had to do just to get to the point that I wanted to be at when I finished this chapter. Over nine thousand words!**

 **As always, let me know what you think.**


	7. Reactions

**A/N: Here we go with the next chapter! This one will largely be focused on Fleur meeting Harry's very crazy and very large family and some more Harry and Fleur dialogue.**

 **I truly appreciate all of the response that I have received. Some of the reviews I received for the last chapter expressed concerns that I had Harry propose too early, that a simple "yes, I will marry you" would have worked. In the course of thinking about it, I felt that having Harry simply say "yes" was to impersonal. So, the question became: "How do I have Harry say that he will marry Fleur while making it something special for her?"**

 **Thus, the idea of the proposal as a way of answering the question of if he will marry Fleur or not. After all, if he had said "no", then what would be the point of me writing this fic? My diligent readers and reviewers, that means you, have to remember that the Harry in my story is not the emotionally closed-off and abused individual from canon and a lot of other fanfictions, including the one that this one is based on, so he would want his answer to be something more personal.**

 **As far as an update schedule goes: Who knows? I publish the chapters as soon as I have them written, so if real life gets a little in the way of an update, I apologize, see the long update between chapters five an six as a perfect example, but unless I straight come out and say "I'm done with this story" then wait patiently for me to update. Just as a head's up, I will be starting a new job soon, so consider yourself warned if there is a long lead time between this chapter and the next.**

 **Well, I just heard from my lawyer and he says that JK Rowling is not willing to sell the rights to Harry Potter. So, no still don't own anything to do with Harry Potter. I do this for fun!**

 **As always, read and enjoy!**

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 **Reactions**

* * *

 **Meeting the Families**

After they had eaten lunch, which the house-elf Dobby had brought to them, they left Harry's room while holding hands and started to make their way towards the sitting room, where their respective parents and Harry's little sister were waiting. As they meandered, Harry started telling her about what was happening in some of the pictures, Fleur laughing or gasping in all the right spots. They had just reached the main staircase when a house-elf appeared in front of them with a small _crack_. Harry stopped their progress and addressed the elf, "Misty."

Misty bowed low and said, "Missus Bella said to tell yous, young Master and young Miss, that the families are _waiting_ in the informal dining room."

Fleur watched as Harry smiled, "Thank you, Misty. We'll head there now."

She watched as the house-elf bowed low again and disappeared with another small _crack._ He turned and smiled at her, "Well, I... uh, guess that we... uh, should get going."

Fleur giggled at her fiancé's inability to complete a sentence when he was nervous around her as they went down the stairs and headed for the informal dining room, "Oui, but first, do you mind telling me why this meeting was changed from the sitting room to the dining room?"

Harry gave her that same lopsided grin that sent her heart racing and heat to stain her cheeks and chuckled nervously, "Heh, heh, well, if I was a betting man, I would say that after they left us upstairs, my sister set about floo-calling my entire family telling them to come to the manor if they wanted to find out something exciting. I would also hazard a guess that my mum invited the rest of your family as well."

Fleur frowned as they approached a pair of stained cherry double doors, "So how big is your family? Surely it cannot be that large."

Harry chuckled again as they stopped just outside of the doors, "Well, let's see: Besides my mum and sister, who you met earlier, there's my four uncles: Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, and Ted Tonks; Three of whom are married to my three aunts: Amelia Bones-Black, Narcissa Snape nee' Black, and Andromeda Tonks nee' Black; then there are my six cousins: Susan Bones-Black, the adopted daughter of Amelia and Sirius Black, the biological children of Uncle Sirius and Aunt Amelia: twins Regulus and Circe, boy and girl respectively, then there's Draco Malfoy and his younger half-sister Selene Snape, and finally, the oldest of us, Nymphadora Tonks, again call her either Nym or Dora. So, yeah, a large family."

To say that Fleur was shocked was an understatement. She spoke, "So, let me get this straight, between your immediate family, your aunts and uncles, and your cousins, your family could field two full Quidditch teams and have a couple of people left over for referees?"

Harry chuckled, "Well, how else are we supposed to play our annual "Adults Versus Kids" Quidditch Match?"

Fleur frowned again, "You're joking, right?"

Harry shook his head with that same lopsided grin and said, "Nope," making sure to pop the "p".

She shook her head at her fiancé's antics, suddenly nervous, "What are we going to tell them?"

Harry grew serious, "The truth. We'll start from what happened at the World Cup and go from there, leaving out certain details, all the way to my proposal to you earlier. I just hope that your dad doesn't kill me for proposing without receiving his blessing," he paused for a moment and looked at her, his voice becoming small and timid, "he won't, er kill me for proposing, will he?"

Fleur answered in as serious a voice as she could while still hiding her mirth at her fiancé's nervousness, "That remains to be seen. My last serious suitor," she paused for dramatic effect, "well, let's just say that they still haven't found all of the pieces to his body yet."

Her resolve held until she saw his face turning pale, then she giggled at him. Harry frowned in response, "That wasn't funny."

She giggled at his expense a little more before saying, "It was a little funny."

Harry was about to say something in response when they heard Bellatrix's voice from the other side of the double doors, "HARRY. JAMES. POTTER."

Fleur shuddered involuntarily and said in perfect synch with the small chorus of voices that they heard from the other side of the doors, "All three names."

Harry looked sheepishly at her and asked, "Well, since we have been summoned, shall we?"

Fleur nodded, "Oui."

With that, Harry reached out an opened one of the double doors, holding it open for her to enter first, which Fleur did, flashing Harry a small smile as she moved past him into the room. Fleur was suddenly glad that she had asked how large her fiancé's family was as she now found herself the center of attention for not only her entire family but also fifteen eager faces that comprised Harry's family. She heard the door close and saw out of the corner of her eye that Harry had moved to pull one of the two empty chairs arranged at the head of the table out for her. Fleur smiled at him as she took the offered seat and let Harry assist her in getting the seat into position before he pulled out the chair next to her and sat as well, being sure to sit close enough to her to convey their relationship. The newly engaged couple noticed that very few people actually looked away from Fleur to look at him. Harry used that moment to speak, "Good afternoon everyone. No doubt, most of you were lured here because a certain someone, who shall remain nameless at this ti-"

Regulus shot to his feet, one of his hands outstretched and pointing shakily at Sabra as he proclaimed loudly, cutting Harry off, "She did it! It was all her! Please, oh most beautiful goddess, let me be yo-"

He was immediately and roughly pulled back down into his seat by a man who seemed to be an older version of him with different colored eyes, "Sit down, Pup, before you hurt yourself or get hurt by your cousin," then turning to Harry, "please continue."

Harry asked as his eyes swept everyone in the room, noticing that all of his cousins were staring unabashedly at Fleur, "Mum, how much have you told them?"

Bellatrix looked at her son, "All the way up to our conversation a little while ago."

Harry nodded, "That will make things a little easier."

He looked at his fiancé, "Care to help me fill in the blanks?"

Fleur nodded, "Oui."

With that, the two launched into telling their story, including a full recounting of what each had experienced last night. It was a full forty-five minutes later when they finished and again sat silent waiting for everyone's reactions. First to speak was the man with shaggy black hair who had pulled his son back down into his seat earlier, "So, let me get this straight, Harry has agreed to marrying you, Fleur, even going so far as to get down on one knee and propose with the Potter engagement ring, correct?"

Fleur nodded, a little nervous, "I did not know that the ring was a family heirloom, but oui."

Everyone watched as he turned to the hook nosed, black haired man next to him with a familiar lopsided grin on his face as he held out a hand, palm up, and said, satisfaction ringing through his words, "Pay up, Forks."

The other man grumbled incoherently as he fished in a pocket of his robes and dropped a silver sickle into the outstretched palm. The next person to speak was a young man who looked to be around Harry's age with platinum blonde hair and steel gray eyes, "So let me get this straight, Harry, because of your whole 'have to save everyone' thing, you are now engaged to a Veela who is three years older than us?"

Harry rolled his eyes and nodded, "Yes, that is correct, Draco."

Draco grinned, "Just checking. Can't wait to see the Weasley Banshees' faces when they find out."

The blonde woman next to Draco spoke next, deciding to get the conversation back on track, "When are you planning on having the ceremony?"

Fleur looked at Harry, who answered, "Two weeks from today. That will give us a couple of weeks after the wedding for a honeymoon away from all of you."

The same man that spoke first spoke up again, "Dibs on planning the bachelor party!"

For some reason that caused Harry to groan mournfully. Fleur looked at her fiancé and said, "I don't see a problem with that. After all, who better to plan your bachelor party than one of your uncles?"

Harry shook his head, "If it was any of the other three I would be okay with that. Just not him."

Fleur narrowed her eyes, "Harry, would you like to tell me why you don't want him planning your party?"

Harry looked at her and asked, "Besides the fact that he has the emotional maturity of a ten year old, and that is being generous?"

Fleur's eyes flickered to the man in question and saw a huge grin that promised all kinds of mischief plastered on his face and said, "It surely can't be that bad, can it?"

Harry looked at her, "You're right, it isn't that bad, it's far worse."

Fleur asked, "How so?"

Harry sighed and said, "We're talking about the guy who slipped itching powder into a shipment of adult magazines that he had delivered to the Slytherin dorms in his third year for fun."

She watched as the previously identified Forks turned and looked at his friend, "That was you, Pads?"

Pads nodded, "Yep, that was me. Why else would I warn you and Bella to leave those magazines alone?"

Fleur said slowly, "Okaaay, but that was one incident. It still doesn't explain why you don't want him planning your bachelor party."

Harry didn't answer her directly but looked at one of his uncles, "Uncle Ted, how long did you have to sleep on the couch after you were married to Aunt Andi because of a Sirius-planned stag party?"

The named Uncle Ted, a man of medium height and build with a neatly trimmed and parted head of brown hair with the barest sprinkling of gray at the temples, matching eyes, plain features looked at his wife, who looked remarkably similar to Harry's mother, just a couple of years younger with brown instead of lavender eyes, and said, "How long was it, dear?"

Harry's aunt frowned for a moment and thought before answering, "At least three weeks, starting the night after our wedding night."

Harry then turned to Forks, "Forks, how long were you on the couch?"

Forks looked at Harry and said in a voice laced with pain and depression, "Two months. Two long and miserable months."

Fleur watched as Harry turned back to her with a pleading look on his face and held out and hand towards the assembled families, as if to say "see what I mean?".

She gave her fiancé a wicked grin and said, "Ah, but you are forgetting one very important thing, Harry."

Harry looked at her and inquired in a tentative voice, "And that is?"

Fleur said while still giving him the same wicked grin, "None of their wives are Veela. As my father can attest, we Veela are insatiable for the first couple weeks after marriage while our mating bond is settling."

Harry looked to Dastan, who had a wistful smile and far away look in his eyes as he nodded his agreement to what his daughter just said.

Pads grinned an all-too-familiar grin as he looked at Fleur, "So, let me get this straight, I have your permission to go full Marauder planning wittle Harry's stag party?"

Fleur matched his grin and said, "Oui," before pausing and raising her right hand palm up a couple of inches above the table, and used her magic to will a tennis ball sized ball of fire into existence hovering a few millimeters above her palm, "with one rule: no sex or this makes very difficult for you to have any more fun with your wife. Oui?"

Pads's grin vanished as he gulped and nodded emphatically, "Understood," before the grin returned, "but other than that, I can go full Marauder?"

Fleur nodded, "Oui."

Pads chuckled mischievously as he rubbed his hands together vigorously.

The next moment, Fleur and everyone else jumped as Harry's head hit the table with a loud _thud_. She could hear him muttering, "My life is over."

Fleur reached out and patted her fiancé on the back and said teasingly, "Oui, your single life is. However, our life together is just beginning."

This caused a round of laughter at Harry's expense. As the laughter was dying down, everyone settled into pleasant conversation, getting to know Fleur and her family and vice versa. During the course of the conversation, she had gotten to match names with faces as far as who was who in Harry's family. While Harry and his cousins were holding a rather animated conversation about the wedding plans, Fleur was wondering why she was teasing someone that she had known for only an hour at most, consciously at least, so much. Also, why did it feel so natural to tease him in such a manner? Just then, she remembered what she wanted to ask her father and switched to French, " _Papa, what color was the aura around Harry and I when you confirmed the life debt last night?_ "

Her father frowned at her question and responded in the same language, " _Gold and it pulsed several times before I canceled the spell. Why are you asking me in our native language?_ "

Harry watched as the two women sitting with him, one of whom he remembered being named Apolline and being Fleur's mother, and the other looked almost like an older version of Apolline, both rounded on Dastan, their anger clearly evident as Apolline spoke in rapid French. From there, the four of them, Fleur included, launched into a rapid fire discussion as to what that meant while the little girl, Gabrielle was her name if he remembered correctly, who looked to be at least a year younger than Sabra sat in her mother's lap, watching the conversation occur with a pensive look on her face, as if trying to absorb what her parents, sister, and grandmother were saying. Harry heard his Uncle Sirius, Pads, whisper to Forks, Uncle Severus, "Bet you that means that her magic's chosen him for her mate."

Severus looked at Sirius and said, "I am not taking that bet."

It was at that point when Bellatrix spoke out loud, gaining everyone's attention, "Maybe we should continue this at a later time," then turning to Dastan and his family, "Dastan, would you, your wife, and mother-in-law, join me in my office? I believe we have some things to discuss, including the location of a wedding."

Dastan nodded, "Of course, Bellatrix."

Bellatrix returned the gesture and then looked at her son, "Harry, take your fiancé back up to your room and get her to bed. I believe Misty has already purchased some sleep wear for her and left it out on the bed. After that, I would like to talk to you privately as well."

* * *

 **A Little While Later**

 **Unanswered Questions and Incorrect Assumptions**

After Harry had guided his fiancé back upstairs and to his room, waited on the other side of the privacy curtain for her to change and get into bed, he entered the curtain and sat at the foot of the bed, leaving a large space between him and Fleur. The two of them were silent for a minute or two before he looked at her and asked, "So, care to tell me what you and your family were talking about, as I have the sneaking feeling that it has to deal with us?"

Fleur sighed tiredly, for even though she had only been out of bed for an hour at most, she felt completely drained, both physically and emotionally, and looked at her fiancé, just to see eagerness for an answer shimmering in those emerald green eyes. She bit her lower lip, suddenly worried that he would turn away from her, despite his earlier promise and proposal. As she thought about how to answer his question, Fleur found her eyes drawn to the jagged scar on his right forearm. She asked, in hopes of changing the subject, "Where did you get that scar, Harry?"

He frowned and looked down at his right forearm, his left hand idly tracing the scar before his head snapped up and Fleur saw frustration clearly written across his features, his voice had an edge as he spoke, "Oh, no you don't. You wouldn't let me change the subject earlier, and I am not letting you change it now. A relationship should be based on trust. How can we trust each other if we aren't truthful with each other?"

Fleur knew that he was right but she also felt that if she revealed the nature of the conversation her family had had, that it would push him away from her. She looked at him and said, "I can't tell you just yet."

Harry frowned, his frustration growing to annoyance, his voice colored with disappointment, "Can't or won't tell me?"

Fleur looked at him and said in a small voice, "Can't. I'm sorry, it's just..."

She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as her voice trailed of and she watched him close his eyes and lean back against the bed post farthest from where she was half-laying, half-sitting. He heaved a sigh while refusing to open his eyes and look at her, furthering her anxiousness as he spoke, his voice growing tight, "Are you sure you can't tell me, or is it you are afraid of what my reaction will be if you do tell me?"

Fleur studied him for a moment. She could see the building anger in how ridged his posture was, as evidenced by the squaring of his shoulders and clenching of his fists, at her continuously refusing to answer a question that very clearly concerned their relationship with one another. As she continued to study him, she said, her voice still small but she tried to make it as soothing as possible while loosening her control on her allure in hopes of that helping to calm him, "I'm sorry. Please understand that I want to tell you, but this is all very scary for me. Twenty-four hours ago, I was excited to see the World Cup with my family and then go home and spend the rest of my summer with my friends before we headed back to school. Boys weren't even in my plans until maybe this time next year until you came along and saved me. Not that I regret you saving me. Well, maybe I do because if I had been stronger, then we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. Though, what girl wouldn't want to be saved by The-Boy-Who-Lived? It's just tha-"

Harry cut her off, his voice under tight control, "Is that what you see me as? The-Boy-Who-Lived?"

Fleur frowned at him, "Well, aren't you? Every little girl has grown up with fantasies of being swept of their feet by The-Boy-Who-Lived," she paused for a moment before admitting in a small voice, "myself included."

Harry said, his voice bitter, "So, all I am to you is The-Boy-Who-Lived? Not Harry, the young man who proposed to you, but The-Boy-Who-Lived?"

Fleur felt her own temper rising, not understanding where his anger was coming from and thinking that he was being unreasonable, "Is there anything else?"

Fleur realized a moment too late that she chose her words poorly as he rose from the bed, ending their conversation, turned to face her, bowed, and said as he straightened back to his full height, his voice full of restrained anger, "With that, I will leave you to rest and recover, Miss Delacour. I shall have one of the house-elves come to wake you when dinner is ready, or if you wish to have dinner here, just tell the house-elf and they will bring it to you. That actually may be the best course of action."

She watched with a very unfamiliar pain twisting in her chest as he stormed out of the room, pausing a moment with his hand on the door handle and said in a quiet voice full of pain and anger, "I had hoped that you, of all people, would be able to understand what goes with that moniker, but I guess that Veela are blind to others who deal with the same problem."

With that, he wrenched the door handle, opened the door, stepped through, and slammed the door behind him with a loud _SLAM_ , leaving a very confused and very hurt Veela staring at the door.

After slamming the door behind him, Harry stormed down the hallway towards the staircase at the opposite end of the corridor from the main staircase that was located in the center of the house. As he walked, Harry said, "Misty."

The house-elf appeared with her customary soft _crack_ and upon seeing her young master striding purposefully towards the servants' stairs practically sprinted to catch up to him, "What can Misty do for young Master?"

Harry snarled as they reached the top of the stairs and stared descending, "Tell my mum that I need to relax and calm down a bit, so I am going _flying_. Then I want you to check on Miss Delacour when dinner is ready and ask if she would like to join the rest of the families in the dining room or if she would like to have dinner in the room."

The house-elf matron nodded and inquired, "When will young Master be home and where would he like his dinner?"

Harry paused, his hand on the door nob of the door that led from the stairwell outside onto the grounds, "I will be home before the moon reaches it's zenith and I will have one of the night house-elves prepare something for me. Thank you, Misty."

Misty nodded, "Have a good flight, young Master."

Harry gave her a tight smile that was more grimace than smile and nodded as he pushed the door open and exited the house. Misty stood there and watched the door close behind her young master, "Missus Bella won't like this."

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **An Uneasy Conversation**

Lady Bellatrix Aiden Potter was not happy with her guests, not in the least. Her French, which she hadn't practiced in over five years, still seemed to be good enough to catch bits and pieces of the Delacour family's discussion, which had been the reason she had broken up the family meet-and-greet just a few minutes ago and now, they were all sitting in her office, which happened to be on the first floor in the south wing of the house. She was giving Dastan a look that had broken many a prisoner in it's time before her promotion to be the Head of the Auror Department, a sub-branch of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which was run by her cousin, Lady Amelia Bones-Black. From what she could tell, the look was making him _very_ uncomfortable. They had been sitting in silence for the last few minutes and Bellatrix had just opened her mouth to ask the question that was on the tip of her tongue when a soft _crack_ to her right announced the arrival of one of the house-elves.

Bellatrix turned in the direction of the elf and found Misty standing there, looking rather nervous, which immediately told Bellatrix that something had happened. She asked the house-elf matron, "Misty, what's wrong?"

Misty looked at her mistress and said, her voice unsteady, "Missus Bella, young Master told me to comes and find you to tell you he needs to calm down so he is going," she paused while shooting a glance that was more of a glare at the Delacours before continuing, " _flying_ and says that he will be back before the moon reaches its zenith tonight and to not wait for him for dinner because he will get one of the night shift elves to make him something."

Bella frowned, immediately concerned because it usually took something really bad for Harry to put that kind of emphasis on the word "flying". She knew what he meant when he said that. Harry was a registered Animagus and his animal form was one capable of flying and he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself in either form. But, she could tell that Misty wasn't done, so she asked, "Was there anything else, Misty?"

The house-elf again directed a quick glare at the Delacours. Bella did her best to suppress a smile at that. Misty, from the minute that Bella had arrived with baby Harry, she had always been protective of their little family to the point where if someone hurt or upset any of the three Potters, they immediately earned her wrath, and consequently the rest of the house-elves that worked the manor. The elf looked back at her mistress and said, "He asked me to check on Miss Delacour when dinner was ready and to ask if she wanted to join everyone or if she would take her meal in bed."

Bella glanced at the Delacours to gauge their reactions to what they just heard. Apolline and Angelique, her mother, looked shocked at what they had heard while Dastan looked defeated. She sat silently at her desk while her own thoughts were racing, _what happened between the time they went back upstairs to the time that Misty showed up to cause Harry to get so upset? Sure, he does feel strongly about things, but he usually is able to keep his temper in check and channel his anger into using his cunning and being utterly ruthless towards those who angered him. He usually doesn't let himself get this upset. So, the same question raises its ugly head: what happened between Fleur and him to cause this?_

Apolline spoke for the first time since they all entered Bella's office, "I think that we need to check on Fleur."

Bella's eyes narrowed as she gave the woman a piercing gaze, "Why only Fleur? Why don't we check on Harry as well?"

Apolline looked at Bella, taking in the other woman's angry gaze, and said in a soothing voice, "Maybe if we talk to Fleur we could find out what happened to cause this."

Bella considered it for a moment before saying, "Agreed."

* * *

 **A/N: Uh oh, Fleur's in trouble and Harry's out flying. Tune in next time to see the conversation between the adults and Fleur as well as the reason why Harry is so upset.**

 **As always, let me know what you think.**


	8. Discussions

**A/N: Thanks to everyone for the response to the last chapter! I am glad to see that everyone is enjoying the story so far. So, here we go with the next chapter! Sorry that the update has been so long in coming, things like starting a new job, expecting a child, buying a house and other things have kept me pretty busy.**

 **A couple of people expressed their concerns over the repeated use of the line "So, let me get this straight" and that it seemed to somewhat degrade the characters intellectually. Believe me, that was NOT my intent. It was meant as a running gag since the previous chapter was originally written as part of the chapter "So, Let Me Get This Straight..." and I had wanted to see how many times I could fit that line into the chapter. As you all know, I eventually split the chapter into two for sanity's sake. After all, who would want to read a chapter of fanfiction that had over fourteen thousand words just for the sake of one used and abused play on words? I may eventually go back and see what I can do to tweak the previous chapter and maybe get rid of that accursed line, but then again I may leave it alone. Who knows at this point? Let me know what you, the faithful readers, think on that either via PM or review.**

 **In other news: Looking for someone who is willing to be a beta reader for me. If interested, please PM me. Prefer someone who has some experience with beta reading and will help me clean up not only future chapters but previous ones as well, not just for this story but my others as well.**

 **Still have no ownership of any rights to Harry Potter and the associated universe. I just do this for fun!**

 **As always, read and enjoy! If you don't enjoy the story, go read someone else's. :P**

* * *

 **Discussions**

* * *

 **A Little Later**

 **Between Fleur and Bellatrix**

Shortly after Harry had left the room, slamming the door behind him, Fleur had finally calmed down enough to replay their failure of a conversation in her head, looking for anything that might have caused that strong of a reaction from Harry. As she was attempting to work out what had happened, the door to Harry's room flew open, rebounding off of the wall with a sharp _bang,_ having the dual effect of shaking Fleur out of her musings and causing her to flinch. She looked up and found herself under the very angry gaze of Harry's mother as she strode purposefully into the room. As soon as she knew she had Fleur's attention, Bellatrix asked, her voice steel, "What the bloody hell did you do?"

Fleur looked confused for a moment, her focus never leaving the angry older witch, as she asked in a small voice, "Wha-what are you talking about?"

Bellatrix frowned at the young Veela, "I am talking about the fact that my son left here so upset that he sent a house-elf to tell me that he was going to go flying using his animagus form and that he won't be back until late tonight. So, I ask again, what did you say?"

Before Fleur could answer, another voice sounded from the doorway, "Bella, maybe we sho-"

Fleur looked at her suddenly frowning father, who had just realized that a silencing spell had been cast on him. She watched as he turned and looked at his wife, who was giving him a withering look, "Dastan, dear, I think that we need to go talk to Sirius and the others about wedding plans. Let Bella handle this."

Dastan gave his daughter an apologetic look as he turned and left the room, followed closely by his wife. After the door closed, Bellatrix rounded on Fleur and said, her voice surprisingly calm given her earlier anger, "So, now that we are alone and I don't have to continue the act of the 'angry mother', tell me what happened with Harry after the two of you returned here from the family meeting, now."

Fleur heaved a sigh, "When we got back here, Harry let me change in privacy and then he asked me about what we had talked about when my family and I had switched to French. I told him that I couldn't answer that. He asked me if it was a matter of whether I couldn't or wouldn't answer his question about what we were talking about. I told him that I couldn't."

Bellatrix gave her a scathing look, "Harry wouldn't like that. He has never liked it when people have withheld information from him, especially when it concerns him," she paused and frowned at Fleur, "that would annoy him, but it wouldn't make him that upset, so what else happened?"

Fleur spoke again, her voice small, "I begged for him to understand that all of what has been going on is very scary for me, that I wasn't even thinking about boys until maybe next summer. That just yesterday, the only thing I was excited about was attending the Quidditch World Cup with my family and then going back home to spend time with my family and friends before going to Beauxbatons Academy for my final year. Then I talked about how those plans changed when he saved me last night. I told him how we wouldn't be in this situation if I had been stronger."

Harry's mother nodded, her voice full of frustration, "Okay, even with all of that he still wouldn't have gotten angry enough to go flying using his animagus form to calm down."

Fleur sighed and bit her lower lip before she continued, "Then I asked him what girl wouldn't want to be saved by the Boy-Who-Lived? He seemed to get angry and he asked me if that was all I saw him as, and I asked him if there was anything else. Harry then stood up and stormed out."

She looked over at Bellatrix, who was now wearing a look of disappointment. Fleur watched in trepidation as Lady Potter moved over and sat on the foot of the bed. She watched as the older woman leaned back against the same bed post that Harry had been leaning against earlier. Fleur couldn't take her eyes off of the older witch as she sat in silent contemplation before she spoke, "Do you think that saying that was fair to him?"

Fleur frowned, "Why wouldn't it be? After all, he is the Boy-Who-Lived, correct?"

Bellatrix gave Fleur a hard look that had the younger witch squirming, her voice reflecting her disappointment and frustration, "So, would it be fair to say that all you are is a sex slave because you are a Veela?"

The younger witch shook her head, "Non, it wouldn't be fair. I am mo-"

She was cut off as Bellatrix spoke again, "Why wouldn't that be fair? After all, you said it was fair to judge who my son was based on something that he had no control over."

Fleur was starting to get frustrated, "That is not what I said."

Bellatrix had a look that spoke of exasperation on her face as she said, "Isn't it? You said that all Harry was to you was the Boy-Who-Lived who saved your life."

Fleur opened her mouth to say that that was not what she had meant, but was cut off as Bellatrix continued, her tone annoyed, "Just to give you a little lesson, Miss Delacour. My son hates his fame because all he did, in his eyes, was survive because of his parents' sacrifice, yet he is celebrated for vanquishing Voldemort. Beyond that, ever since he entered the halls of Hogwarts three years ago, he has had to deal with girls fawning all over him and chasing him because of his fame while caring nothing for _who_ he is. So, tell me, how do you think he feels about having that stupid name thrown back in his face by the one person he was hoping would understand what he has had to deal with?"

Fleur looked down at her hands as she thought about the older witch's words for a moment before the realization of just what she had done with her careless words hit her full force, "That's why Harry got upset, isn't it?"

Bellatrix gave her a small nod, "Exactly. Where the rest of the wizarding world sees a hero that should be celebrated for vanquishing the worst dark lord in the last century, he feels the loss of his parents and all of the other crap that goes with that name. My son just wants to be normal and yet because of that bloody name, that can't happen. He was hoping that with you, even though the situation the two of you are in is in no way normal, he would be able to find happiness with someone who could, while not immediately, eventually love and respect him for the man he is."

Fleur still felt unsettled as she asked in a small voice, "What can I do to make this up to him?"

Bellatrix looked at her for a moment before speaking, "Do you really want to fix your mistake?"

Fleur nodded, her voice small, "Oui. I would like to be able to have a chance at an actual relationship with Harry."

Bellatrix considered her for a moment or two, "Then start by apologizing to him and follow that up by being honest with him. He believes that a relationship should be built on the kind of trust that comes from being completely honest with each other. It doesn't matter what the subject is, just be honest with him and you will find that he will do the same with you. And who knows, maybe the two of you were made for each other."

Fleur nodded, "I will, and about that 'maybe we were made for each other'..."

* * *

 **Late That Night**

Fleur lay back in Harry's bed with an exhausted sigh as she reflected on how her day had gone since the quasi-fight with Harry early in the afternoon. After the nearly one-way discussion with a very angry, publicly at least, Bellatrix Potter, the two witches had fallen into a conversation centered around Harry that had started with Fleur telling her the meaning of the golden aura that the parents had seen when Dastan had cast the charm to confirm the life debt. The older witch had actually taken the news rather well, even going so far as to crack a couple of jokes about Fleur being into younger guys. After that, the two had talked for a little while longer before being interrupted as the healer Madam Pomfrey had come in and checked Fleur's condition, proclaiming her fit enough to be allowed off of her quasi-bed restriction. Fleur had been grateful for that and, after changing back into the clothes that her fiancé had arranged for her, had joined her soon-to-be mother-in-law in walking around the manor, eventually rejoining the rest of the extended Potter family, all of whom had frowned at her briefly after she answered their questions about what had happened to cause Harry's disappearance and all of them saying that she shouldn't have said that to Harry. After several rounds of profuse apologies and promises to not make the same mistake again, the family calmed down, for the most part. There was still one person besides Harry that Fleur had to convince, and that was Harry's little sister, Sabra.

When the combined families had begun to head towards the dining room, the youngest Potter had pulled Fleur away from the rest of the family, the look on her face making the older girl very uncomfortable. She had pulled Fleur into her own room and with a bluntness that Fleur was quickly coming to recognize as being a family trait, Sabra laid into her about what she had said to Harry. At that point Fleur had been worried that Harry may decide to change his mind about their marriage, causing Sabra to scoff at her and tell her that if she thought something like that was going to cause Harry to go back on his word then she didn't really know Harry. Sabra then went on to tell her that if she ever did anything to hurt Harry again, her mother would be the least of Fleur's worries. After that little heart-to-heart, which had been little more than a one way conversation directed at Fleur and more of what she expected from her conversation with Bellatrix earlier, Sabra had led her back to where the combined families were gathering to eat dinner.

Dinner. That had been... interesting. Everyone had sat down in close to the same places that they had been in during the afternoon meeting and without much ceremony, the meal was served by the house-elves, who had served everyone, except for her, with smiles on their faces and the usual exuberant falling over themselves eagerness that she had come to expect from house-elves that were well cared for. During the meal, Fleur had been on the receiving end of a lot of nasty looks from all of the house-elves in attendance and had at one point become frustrated with their united attitude towards her. Of course, their mood changed when Lady Potter had told them to stop being nasty to Fleur or she was going to set Kreacher on them and also that their attitudes were warranted but unnecessary as Fleur had already said that she was going to apologize to Harry as soon as he came back home. After that the elves brightened and the entire group relaxed and were able to fully enjoy their dinner while talking about the beginnings of the plans for the wedding.

Now, as she lay in the bed that her soon to be mother-in-law had said that she was going to stay in for the remainder of her time in the Potter household, Fleur tried to formulate what she was going to say to Harry when she saw him again. The first thing that she needed to do was obvious: she needed to apologize for what she had said. After that though... Fleur was at a loss. She rolled onto her side and stared at the empty half of the bed, hoping that something would come to her. Fleur took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of sandalwood mixed with what smelled like worn leather, as she thought about what the Potter Matriarch had said, _can I really be honest with him? Will the truth about what the color that Papa saw around us scare him away?_

Thoughts such as that continued to plague the young Veela as she tossed and turned, unable to find sleep as the conversations with Bellatrix and Sabra, not to mention the abortion that had been the conversation with Harry that had precipitated the aforementioned conversations played through her head. She heaved another sigh and was about to just give up on finding sleep when she heard the door open...

* * *

 **A Little Earlier**

 **Between Harry and Makon**

A diminutive figure was standing on the roof of the Potter Manor as all of the other occupants had gone to bed a few hours earlier, his eyes scanning both the clear night sky and shadow-ridden grounds of the manor, searching for any sign of the return of Young Master Harry. Makon, the house-elf patriarch had been told by his mate that the young master had gone flying in his animagus form early that afternoon and wouldn't be back until late at night. Misty had gone on to tell him about the argument that had caused the young master to leave the house and go flying in aforementioned form. Makon frowned as he glanced at the rising crescent moon, which had by this time cleared the horizon and was well on her way to her zenith. He remembered how his mate had told him that the young master would return home before the moon reached its zenith. As the night advanced and the moon rose higher, Makon began to be concerned about the young master. He was about to go in and tell the Missus that the young master hadn't made it home when a shadow passed over him accompanied by a the sound of powerful wings beating against the air, the force nearly knocking the diminutive frame of the house-elf from his perch. As he regained his footing, Makon looked down at the ground just behind the house and saw the young master kneeling on the ground and breathing heavily. Makon realized that the young master must still be trying to master changing back to his regular form before he landed and from the looks of it, he succeeded this time. Makon disapparated from his perch with a soft _crack_.

Harry looked up from where he was kneeling when he heard the sound of a house elf apparating in front of him and found himself face-to-face with Makon, who he smiled at and said, "Makon, it's good to see someone was waiting for me."

Makon regarded his young master with a frown and said reproachfully, "Young Master nearly knocked me offs my spot on the roof. He also overextended his self."

With that, the house-elf handed his young master a potion which Harry drank without a thought and felt the familiar warmth spread through him like an inferno being fed by gasoline, culminating in jets of steam emanating from his ears. The Pepper-up Potion had the desired effect as Harry was able to get up and say, "Thank you, Makon. I needed that."

Makon grunted as he took the empty potion vial back from Harry and led the way into and through the darkened house, all the way to the kitchen. He gestured for Harry to sit at the table and asked, "What would Young Master like?"

Harry pursed his lips as he thought about it. He considered just what to ask for before he hit on the perfect dish. Harry, his mother, and his little sister had gone to a Thai restaurant that was in downtown London on a few occasions and Harry really liked the food there. After several trips there, his mother had actually bought the restaurant and had one of the cooks, a squib, come to Potter Manor to teach the house elves how to cook the meals. That had been six years ago. The family still liked going to the restaurant, after all the food was amazing, and Harry had a hankering for Thai right now. He broke off his musings and looked at Makon, "How about some Panang Duck?"

Makon grinned at his young master and set about preparing the requested dish as he started filling the young master on what had happened after he had left that afternoon. Harry chuckled at the antics of his cousins during their evening meal which, according to Makon, had started off rather tense with the elves barely wiling to serve Fleur her food until they had been scolded by Lady Potter and told that Fleur would talk with Harry when he got back.

Makon's dissertation paused as he placed a large bowl full of orange-brown liquid featuring slices of both red and green bell peppers as well as sliced chunks of roasted duck and accompanied by a plate full of steaming white rice in front of Harry. Harry thanked the house-elf and picked up his fork and spoon and started transferring some of the contents of the bowl to the plate of white rice. As he ate, Harry mulled over what Makon had told him as well as his own conversation with Fleur that had precipitated his departure from the house that afternoon. When he had first taken to the air Harry nearly had been seeing red as rage burned in his veins, but as he had let the wind and thermals dictate his course and speed, he had felt his anger towards the stunning Veela ebb away as the miles flowed by beneath him. During his flight, Harry had replayed the conversation over and over in his head, trying to see it from her point of view. In the course of 'trying to walk a kilometer in her shoes', Harry had realized that, while hearing that cursed name being applied to him as a label by her had hurt his feelings immensely, he had greatly overreacted to her honest and fair question, probably due to the nature of his animagus form.

During the course of his flying, Harry also realized that he hadn't really done anything to disassociate himself from the image of 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' in her eyes. As he had continued to fly wherever the wind took him, Harry resolved to do everything he could to show his fiancé _who_ he was. He knew that that meant telling her all of his adventures as well as all of the things that he would rather have kept hidden, even from his own mother.

Harry smiled at the elf, "Thank you for the food, Makon. Did my mum leave any instructions for me?"

Makon nodded again and said, "Missus Bella said that you and Fleur were to continue to share your room for the remainder of your time here at the manor and that after the wedding the two of you will go to the family house on the southern coast of Spain for your honeymoon. She also said, "you chose this so stop being a prat and get to know Miss Fleur". Missus also tolds me to lock all other doors in the house so that you can't hide from Miss Fleur."

Harry heaved a sigh when he heard that little bit of news. He _had_ planned on apologizing to Fleur and then letting her sleep in his room while he crashed in one of the unused guest rooms, but **noooo** , his mom just had to hand out the decree that he would be sharing his room with his intended. Well that was just great. Didn't he get a say in things like this?

Harry chuckled as that last question flitted through his head, knowing full well that his mother and all of his other relatives would have told him, in unison, "No" and then would have laughed in his face about his discomfort. The Potter scion thought about it some more as he worked on finishing his meal and realized that his sharing his, correction: _their_ , room with his intended was a way for his mom to force him to interact with the young Veela who he was going to be married to in just under two weeks' time. When he finished his meal, Harry thanked Makon for the meal again, and left the kitchen, moving through the darkened manor with the few candles burning casting long shadows while giving him just enough light to navigate through a house that he could have made his way through blindfolded. Harry practiced taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly as he worked on calming the nerves that seemed to be rearing their ugly head as he approached the door to what had been formally his room, but now he was sharing with his fiancé. He took another steadying breath before he placed his hand on the door handle, turned it, and pushed the door open...

* * *

 **Apologies, Tears, and Honesty**

As Harry entered the room, he noticed that the privacy screens that he had had the elves set up earlier that day had been removed, probably on his mother's orders. He closed the door gently, hoping to not wake his fiancé, thus delaying the necessary conversation and apologies, and possibly groveling, he was not above groveling for forgiveness, until the morning. Unfortunately for him, the powers that be seemed to have it out for him because immediately after the door was closed, he heard the other occupant in the room speak, "Welcome home, Harry."

Harry's spun around and emerald eyes met sea blue, which appeared like bottomless black pools in the darkened room. He found himself lost in the depths of his fiancé's eyes for seemed like an eternity but must have only been a second or two before he shook himself and responded, "Sorry for waking you up, Fleur."

The silver-haired Veela propped herself up against the head board, her silver locks falling down around her shoulders like liquid silver glowing in the moonlight coming in through a crack in the curtains as she said in a soft tone, "I...I wasn't asleep, Harry," she hesitated for a moment before patting the bed and said, "come join me? I think we need to talk."

Harry gave her a small smile as he crossed the room and sat at the foot of the bed. After he had settled onto the bed, the two of them looked at each other as an awkward silence descended over the pair. The silence continued for a couple of more minutes, both at different times had opened their mouths to speak, but had closed their mouths just as quickly with nothing to say. Harry was the first to break the silence, after finally getting up the courage to speak, he was a Slytherin after all and not some brash Gryffindor, "Before you say anything Fleur I feel that I must apologize."

He took a deep breath and said, "Fleur, I am sorry for what I said and did earlier. It wasn't right. I should have stayed so that we could talk about our issues, but I lost control of my temper and stormed out on you. I realized while I was out that, with what happened at the World Cup followed by my proposal to you, all I have done thus far could be something straight out of one of those stupid books that that bloody author wrote to use a little of the 'Boy-Who-Lived' fame line his pockets while he filled children's heads with completely outrageous drivel. I have done nothing to show you _who_ I am because I am human and I will make mistakes. I am truly ashamed of myself. We're in this together and it's about time that I started actually trying to live up to the promise I made to you when I proposed to you earlier," he paused for a moment as he locked eyes with her before continuing in a much smaller voice, "can you forgive me?"

With his statement concluded, Harry fell silent and watched his fiancé. He could barely read her features in the darkness, so he was left to nervously wait for her response. It felt like an eternity had crawled by before he found his emerald eyes locked with the endless pools of her black, in this lighting anyway, eyes and she spoke in a soft voice that barely carried more than a foot, but Harry still heard it, "I forgive you."

Harry felt relief flood through him as he felt the weight of guilt he had been carrying since their earlier conversation fell away, leaving him feeling lighter than when he was flying. It only lasted a moment as Fleur then heaved a sigh and said, "And now it's time for me to apologize."

Fleur hesitated for a moment as her nerves took hold of her. Harry's apology had been sincere and she had been relieved that he didn't blame her for what had happened earlier, but she still felt a small measure of guilt over what had happened between the two of them. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she began, "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. I should have told you what my family and I talked about, but I was afraid of what your reaction would be if you heard what the color of the aura that my father saw meant. It was wrong of me to not to-"

She had looked away during her apology to her fiancé, so naturally she didn't see him move over next to her on the bed and thus she was surprised as her apology was cut off by him pulling her awkwardly to him, his arms winding around her as he said in a soft voice, "It's okay. We both were being bloody stupid. We're both teenagers, it's going to happen. We just need to be honest with each other from here on out, okay?"

Fleur nodded against his chest and took a shuddering breath as the dam that had been holding back her tears broke. Tears cascaded down her face, drenching Harry's shirt as he pulled Fleur closer to him and adjusted himself so that the two of them could be in a more comfortable position. He gently stroked Fleur's back and told her in a gentle tone that was barely above a whisper, "It's okay, I've got you. Let it all out."

And she did, everything that she had experienced in the past twenty-four hours came rushing to the forefront. The most surprising thing for Fleur was the way that the pain and fear mingled with relief just seemed to fall away with every tear she shed as she silently cried into the chest of her fiancé while he held her against him with one arm while gently stroking her back with his other hand. She didn't know how long they stayed like that but eventually her tears dried up and her sobs diminished, leaving her completely exhausted. Fleur didn't know when it happened, but at some point while she was crying, her arms had wound their way around Harry's neck and they had managed to lay down on the bed with his head on his pillow and Fleur half laying on him, half laying next to him. Fleur felt Harry shift below her and suddenly, she was covered by the sheet and comforter.

Harry gently shifted over so that he cover Fleur with the bed sheet and comforter while getting off of the bed and disentangling himself from Fleur's arms, the Potter scion spoke softly, "I'm going to go take a shower then I'll be right back, okay?"

Fleur nodded up at him and watched as he turned away and made his way to the bathroom. As she waited for Harry to finish his shower, Fleur replayed their conversation through her head again. She was happy that it had turned out the way that it had, but she was still afrai-, no she wouldn't think like that anymore. Harry deserved the truth from her, and not just about the aura but about everything. Her mind was still trying to compose how she was going to broach the subject when the bathroom door opened and Harry emerged wearing a loose fitting t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

After he had lain down in bed with Fleur, she had quickly shifted back over to what was rapidly becoming her favorite spot, laying with her body pressed partly against his side and partly on top of him with her head on his chest. A comfortable silence settled over the teens as they lay in bed, each examining what had just happened between them and both feeling that they had taken a major step forward in their relationship. Fleur was loathe to move away from Harry but she knew that it was necessary for her to address 'the dragon in the room' as it were. She looked at her fiancé and could barely see his face in the darkness but she could guess that he was wearing a confused look at the moment.

She took a deep breath and let it out as she said, "Harry, I need to tell you something about our relationship."

The bedding rustled as Harry sat up next to her but when he reached for her, Fleur pulled away and placed a hand on his chest, pushing him away slightly while she said, "No. No hugs just yet. I need to tell you this first. Then you can decide if you want to hug me or leave me."

She watched the silhouette of Harry nod as he said, his voice full of concern, "What's wrong, Fleur?"

Fleur took a deep breath and said, her voice small, "Do you remember when my family and I switched to French during the first meeting between our families?"

Harry nodded in the darkness. Fleur took that both as his answer and her cue to continue. She took another deep breath and forged ahead, "When a Veela comes to owe someone a life debt, we can use a simple charm to see what color the magical aura around the two is. Normally the aura is silver in color, denoting that a life debt is present, but that the one the Veela owes her life to was not the one chosen for her by her magic as her mate. Eventually this changes as the two grow closer, the Veela's magic accepts her savior as her mate. Meaning, if you were to cast the charm again a couple of weeks following the consummation of their marriage, their aura would have changed to become gold in color. In extremely rare cases, a Veela could become indebted to someone and their magic chooses that person as the Veela's mate almost immediately. When that happens, the aura revealed during the first casting of the charm is gold in color."

Harry frowned as he thought about what Fleur just said. He considered it for a few moments longer before he voiced his thoughts, "I'm guessing that when your father confirmed the life debt that the aura surrounding us was gold," he paused as he waited for her nod, confirming his suspicions and then continued, "so what does it mean for you that your magic has chosen me to be your mate?"

Fleur spoke, "For the most part it means that my magic sees you as my perfect match in every sense of the phrase."

Harry's frown deepened, "Meaning?"

Fleur gave him a small smile in the dark as she said, "Meaning that my magic sees you as a perfect complement to me magically, emotionally, spiritually, and," she paused for dramatic effect as she leaned towards him and whispered huskily in his ear, "physically."

Harry shuddered as his fiancé whispered the last word in his ear in a voice that had all kinds of very naughty thoughts about what the two of them could get up to running through his head, causing another part of his anatomy to start to 'get up' as well. He took a couple of moments to desperately push those thoughts to the back of his mind, but his very next thought brought them right back to the forefront, "Wait, when you say 'consummate our marriage', you mean we have to have..."

Fleur giggled at her fiancé being unable to finish his question as he was probably overcome by embarrassment, "Oui, we have to have sex, and our mating bond will ensure that each of us learn how best to give the other the most pleasure possible."

Harry's nerves about marrying this angelic young woman before him skyrocketed to the cruising altitude of one of those muggle passenger jets as she said that and those naughty thoughts from earlier broke through their isolation and came rushing back to the forefront of his mind. He flopped back on the bed, "Bloody hell."

Fleur looked down at her fiancé as he said that. She knew that he had become more nervous than he had been previously about marrying her and to be honest with herself, she was probably more nervous than he was about that very same thing. Her confidence in the fact that their mating bond would help both of them learn about each other when it came to being intimate with one another did little to strengthen her resolve. Fleur remembered what he had said earlier about getting through this together and instantly felt a little more relaxed about it. She leaned down to where she was resting on her elbow next to him, still being sure not to touch him as she spoke, "Harry, do you remember what you told me earlier about us getting through this together?"

Her fiancé nodded, "Yes, I do and I will hold to what I said about doing everything that I can to prove that I am worthy of being your mate. I promise you that, Fleur."

Fleur wet her suddenly dry lips with her tongue as she leaned down over him, stopping with her lips barely a couple of inches from his as she whispered, "And I will do the same for you, Harry."

She briefly brushed her lips against his gently enough to where their lips barely touched at all, but they touched all the same, sending a jolt of electricity through both teens and causing their pulses to race. Harry opened his arms to Fleur as he said in a voice that was a little short of breath, "Come to bed, Fleur. We have a long day tomorrow and I don't want my fiancé falling asleep on me."

Fleur arched an eyebrow at him, "Oh, and what are we doing tomorrow that is so important for me not to fall asleep during?"

Harry smiled at her, his eyes practically glowing with mischief as he said, "Why, my dear Fleur, I am taking you out on our first date."

Fleur giggled as she quickly reclaimed her favorite spot on what was now their bed. As she rested her head on his chest, Fleur felt Harry's lips press briefly against the top of her head, sending another little thrill through her as she sighed contentedly before whispering, "Good night, Harry."

A moment later, Harry responded, "Good night, Fleur."

After that, it didn't take long for sleep to claim the two teens.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, sorry for the long wait between chapters, but this is another chapter down. Please be patient as a lot of things are adding up to cause slow updates, not to mention that I will be working on some of my other stories as well.**

 **As always, please let me know what you think.**


	9. A Teaser Enough Said

**A/N: So, it almost feels like I am repeating myself a wee bit, but oh well, here we go again.** **Sorry for the long, long, long, and possibly worthy of another long, wait for this, a teaser of the eighth actual chapter in my Harry Potter Saves Fleur and Has to Marry Her story. Damn Life Debts, they just cause so many problems. (*Author sighs theatrically*) I will be updating this story a little more frequently than the time between this chapter and the previous one (hopefully). I ask that you all remain patient with me.**

 **Even though I haven't been updating as often as many of you, the avid readers (or is it rabid readers?, hmm, must consider this) would have liked, I hope that you can enjoy this chapter.**

 **I have received a few complaints about Fleur's lack of an accent in my story. So, I decided to leave it up to you, my dedicated readers, to decide if I should go back and edit in her accent. Let me know via the poll that is on my profile. IF the vote comes back as "yes", I will be in serious need of a beta reader to assist me in getting it right.**

 **I haven't been completely baby and new house focused over these months, as some of you who have reviewed have seen responses from me and little things fixed in some of the previous chapters. I would like to have a cover picture for this story but have yet to find any good ones of Harry and Fleur together. If one of you could find and/or come up with one (if you're talented like that), please send it to me via PM. I will look at all pictures sent and will select the one that I think fits the story best. I will be sure to give credit where it is due in the intro A/N for the chapter following when I select the picture. Thank you!**

 **I have a sad announcement to make: It seems that my esteemed team of lawyers was unable to procure the licensing to the Harry Potter universe from J.K. Rowling. However, they did inform me that if I continue to write on a strictly "zero financial gain" basis, a.k.a. stick to fanfiction, then I was in the clear... Yay!**

 **As always, read and enjoy, and if you can't enjoy mine, go read someone else's!**

* * *

 **Getting to Know Each Other**

* * *

 **The Next Morning**

 **A Glimpse of Harry's Training**

Fleur Delacour rolled over in the bed that she shared with her fiancé to avoid the midmorning sun that was making its presence known in the form of brilliant light streaming through a narrow crack in the curtains that had been drawn closed last night. Initially, she had rolled over to escape the sunlight so that she could sleep a little longer, but upon finding the other side of the bed empty and cool enough for it to have been empty for a while, any thoughts of sleeping in fled. Fleur sat bolt upright in bed, at once alarmed that her fiancé wasn't in bed with her and curious as to where he could be. She slid out from under the covers and off the bed, fully intent on changing her clothes and then finding Harry. Fleur had just pulled on the shirt that had been left out for her, this one a white version of the silver shirt she wore yesterday, when she heard a _crack_ of apparation behind her. She spun and found herself looking at the Matron of the Potter Family House-Elves. If Fleur remembered correctly, the house-elf's name was Misty.

Misty looked up at the young lady who, though the Young Master and Missus had forgiven her, she hadn't, and said, "If Young Miss Flower will follow me, I's taken you to where Young Master is."

Fleur nodded to the elf, " _Merci_."

With that, the young Veela followed the House-Elf Matron out of the room she shared with Harry and down the hall towards the stairs. They descended the stairs in silence and Fleur followed Misty into a wing of the manor she hadn't visited yet. Of course, she had only been a guest of the Potters for a day and a half, or there about, so obviously she hadn't gotten to visit other parts of the house yet. As she followed Misty down the hallway, Fleur tried to think of a reason why her betrothed would have risen so early before she was shaken out of her reverie by Misty announcing, "Young Master and Missus is training in here. Young Mis Flower is asked to stay behind the red line on the floor or she could ends up needen Miss Poppy again."

With that said, the hose-elf opened the door and allowed Fleur to enter the room. Fleur had just turned to take in the appearance of the room when she saw a flash of blue spellfire speeding straight for her. Before she could react, the spell seemed to burst against an invisible wall directly in front of her. Coincidentally, the invisible wall seemed to be even with the red line that Misty had warned her about. Fleur didn't really notice the coincidence as she stood transfixed by what was occurring on the other side of what was obviously a form of containment ward.

She watched in awe as the battle between Harry and his mother seemed to ebb flow like the tides. One seemed to have the advantage one moment only to have it stolen by their opposite the next. Fleur lost track of how long she stood there watching the duel. Was it really a duel though? To her it seemed to be more of a dance between two equals. It was clear to her that both combatants were intimately familiar with how the other fought. The two seemed to dance around the floor, the air between them constantly filled with the multicolored flashes of spellfire, their styles complementary yet different. Lady Potter's style was one of speed and power combined in such a way as to form a graceful yet deadly dance like a hawk on the wind before it strikes. Harry's seemed to also be made of equal parts speed, power, and accuracy combined to create a style that was both brutal in its offensive abilities and efficient in that there seemed to be very little if any wasted movements.

She watched as Harry sent a series of spells at his mother, his wand a blur. Fleur watched as Lady Potter brought her wand up with a flourish, erecting a semi-transparent shield just in time to protect herself from the flurry of spells. She watched as most of Harry's spells impacted Lady Potter's shield, each one causing the shield to visibly weaken. Then finally, the last spell to hit Lady Potter's shield shattered it, forcing her to dive to the side to avoid the second salvo of spells that Harry was launching. Fleur watched as Lady Potter rolled to her side as spells left scorch marks on the stone floor in her wake. As the elder Potter came to her feet out of her roll, she launched a stream of daggers out of her wand at her son. Fleur almost screamed when she saw the daggers flash across the space between the two Potters. She saw her fiancé grin as he waved his off-hand in an almost dismissive gesture and shouted, " _Llofruddio brain_ (Murder of crows)!"

Fleur watched as every single one of the daggers flying across the room suddenly became individual crows, who then reversed course and flew back towards Lady Potter. She watched as Lady Potter reacted by using her wand as a flamethrower to try to incerate the crows flying at her. What she failed to notice was that that spell was immediately followed by a chain of a spells that Fleur recognized as a blasting hex, stunner, disarming charm, full body bind hex, and the levitaiton charm. Fleur watched as the blasting hex sent the distracted Lady Potter airborne, the stunner effectively ending the fight, the disarming charm sent Lady Potter's wand sailing away from her, thick ropes wrapping around her as the full body bind hex hit, and the leviation charm keeping the now unconscious and bound Lady Potter from slamming into the ground. She watched as Harry carefully lowered his mother to the floor, a grin spreading across his face.

Fleur was about to ask why Harry was grinning when she saw him flick his wand and Lady Potter's hair changed to what Fleur could only describe as a very, very, and possibly worthy of another very, violent shade of almost-neon orange, her dress from the plain black that it was to what Fleur could only describe as a zebra-striped scarlet and gold pattern. As she looked at Harry, he waved his off-hand in her direction and said, " _Chwalu'r wal_ (Shatter the wall)."

Fleur watched as the red line that seemed to stretch the length of the floor, extend up both walls, and along the ceiling, turned from red to an almost royal blue in color. She watched as Harry moved over to where his mother's wand had landed, picked it up, and walked across the floor to where his mother was lying unconscious. Fleur approached him and asked, "Why did you change the color of your mother's hair and clothes? You had already won the duel."

Harry looked at his fiancé and chuckled, "Well, good morning to you too. It's a little deal we have had since we started my combat training when I was ten. If my mum beats me, she gets to change my hair and clothing color for the day, and if I beat her, then I get to do the same."

Fleur looked back down at Lady Potter, "So, does she have to stay like that all day?"

Harry gave her that same grin that she had seen the various members of his family wear at one point or another, "The deal is that we have to stay like that for the day, no matter what is going on."

He chuckled for a moment, "One time she had to go to an investigation in Glasgow with pink Auror robes and matching hair."

Fleur looked at him, "You're joking, surely?"

Harry let out a short laugh before giving his fiancé a single word answer, "Nope," making sure to pop the 'p'.

Fleur looked back down at her soon-to-be mother-in-law as Harry waved his wand and used a silent reviving spell on his mother, who came awake with a jolt. Lady Potter sat up as her son vanished the ropes from the full body bind and looked around before her violet eyes settled on the two teenagers, one who was wearing the typical Marauder's grin and the other was looking on with a look of shocked interest.

Bellatrix looked from her son to his fiancé and asked, "So Fleur, how bad is it?"

Fleur didn't answer immediately as she conjured a hand mirror and handed it to Lady Potter. Fleur watched as Lady Potter studied herself in the mirror for a few moments before looking back up at her son, sarcasm coloring her voice as she spoke while rising to her feet, "Really, Chudley Cannons Orange and Gryffindor scarlet and gold? Really? You couldn't come up with anything more original?"

Harry grinned at his mom and said, "Nope. It's especially fitting today since you have the privacy box tickets for the pre-season match between the Cannons and your favorite team, the Harpies."

Bellatrix just sighed and rolled her eyes at her son before turning her attention to his fiancé, "So, I take it that the two of you have made up."

Fleur nodded as a small smile graced her features, " _Oui_. After our talk last night, I was informed by my fiancé that we are going on our first official date today."

Lady Potter turned her attention back to her son while arching an eyebrow, "Oh really, and when was said fiancé going to mention something to his mother, before or after he changed her hair and clothing colors to what they are now?"

Harry chuckled nervously, "Uhh... after?"

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 **A/N #2: Hopefully all of you liked the teaser of the next chapter. I hope to have this one finished and beta'd within the next couple of weeks.**


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